Lustmord – [other]
released by Hydra Head on 08 July 2008
data : 8 tracks . 78:08 run time . www.lustmord.com
reviewed by : Paul Morin
genre : Dark Ambient
packaging : Designed by Adam Jones (of Tool). Creepy and cryptic, full of jolting images, occult references, and blank spaces.
content : With each song, the music starts quietly, usually drawing from silence. It slowly builds: Sub-bass patterns pulse and echo in the distance. Machinery grinds. Wind whistles and drones. There is a hiss or a groan or a scream or God only knows what that is. Foreboding sounds weave in and out. The listener is like a fly on the wall at some epic event, as though Cthulhu has been summoned forth and you are a completely insignificant part of this massive, slowly unfolding, dark event. The music is deep and meditative, and requires the full attention of the listener. Lustmord has been creating Lovecraft inspired soundscapes for decades now. On this album, he shifts gears a bit, adding guitarists Adam Jones (Tool), Aaron Turner (Isis) and King Buzzo (The Melvins). All of them grind their strings into their amplifiers (turned way past 11) creating howling distortion and slow, spidery lines. They appear on about half of the tracks on this album, and although all of these performers are incredibly talented in their own rights, each capable of unleashing a maelstrom of dark and creepy sounds, they seem to pale in comparison to the size and scope of Lustmord’s unholy invocations. At times, all I could think was I was listening to some creepy soundtrack, and really getting into all of the images the music created, and all of the sudden my kid brother is upstairs cranking up his practice amp and trying to play along to some stoner metal record he just found. Overall, the album is still satisfying. There are classic Lustmord tracks contained within, and the sounds are every bit as horrific and hair-raising as any of his best works. The guitars are my only grumble, and I can’t fault Lustmord for wanting to branch out, particularly since joining Isis’ label (Hydra Head records) means a new audience and acceptance by a crowd probably unfamiliar with his previous work. Besides that, the guitarists are capable and creepy in their own right, not bad players, just somehow out of place on some of on these tracks. And who wouldn’t be? This is the work of the eternal ones, drawing forth the most unholy of unholy beings, and Lustmord presents a convincing and terrifying glimpse of the scene.
grade : A (music : B+ . lyrics : n/a . recording quality : A+)
