Lust
Genesis Of A Satanic Race
8.6
WARNING: Attention moralistic self-righteous black metal ‘’fans’’, Lust is a satanic Nazi-oriented outfit from Alberta. For your, and indeed my sake, please do not read further, for this is a band that will likely repulse and disgust you. If, however, you feel you have the intestinal fortitude and testicles to look beyond a band’s political pronouncements and judge a band solely on musical merit, feel free to scroll downwards. The above warning is, of course, no guarantee that you will survive the holocaustic, brilliantly barbaric barrage that is Lust.
For some reason, up till a few weeks ago I had never been able to get my head around Lust. I’ve grown up listening to everything from Beherit to NON to Sutcliffe Jugend to Swans, so I’d like to think that I have some sort of pedigree as far as mindnumbingly chaotic perversion goes. Yet, despite the fact that I own all their releases thus far, I have been somewhat unable to unearth the brilliance beneath the dense layers of cruel, dissonant noise, squealing discordant leads and tortured wails. This is all changed, of course, upon listening to the split with German warlocks Anael. Remarkably, Lust managed to match, and some might even say surpass, one of the very finest acts in black metal today with their side of the disc. The most perplexing thing about said split was the fact that NOTHING had changed musically for Lust, this was still the exact same band I was straining to hear beneath the amateurish production values of the Apocalyptic Torment full-length and the early demos, but now the nebulous randomness and intoxicatingly strange persona of the earlier recordings had been cohered through a far crisper production, allowing the demented, nihilistic genius to froth to the very top. As the aesthetic counterpart to Anael’s foreboding, ritualistic churn, Lust’s offerings on that disc have seen countless spins in my stereo since.
As if that mindwarping motherfucker of a disc wasn’t enough, Sabazios has decided to spoil us all with this utterly destructive, despicably loathsome assault, another hateful subversion of musical convention and structure that thankfully features his strongest production to date. It would be somewhat foolish for me to describe Lust’s musical approach via frivolous parallels, but if one were to draw coarse comparisons, names like Krieg, early Beherit, Profanatica, Procreation and Parabellum may be somewhat appropriate, but still wholly inaccurate, considering the subtle musical advances that Lust has made to truly assert itself as a unique identity.
What will strike you upon first listen of this disc is just how undeniably HYPNOTIC the structures within Genesis Of A Satanic Race are. While many might suggest that the incomprehensible dissonance and exhaustingly busy arrangements are haphazard and juvenile, mere white noise with no enduring musical value, I urge you to allow “Birth Of The Unconquerable One” to sinks its claws into your consciousness, preferably via a good set of headphones. Once you make it past the ramshackle, cantankerous screeching leads and random percussive fills, salvos of double bass and serpentine, twisting riffs encircle your imagination and beckon you to listen further, Sabazios’ distinctive and desperate Varg-on-helium vocals ushering you further into the depths of his tortured delirium. There is SO much going on at once here- the militant, bass-led, quasi-Celtic Frost groove that lurks nefariously beneath the howling, strangulated guitar strings, the stop-start, all-over-the-goddamn-place rhythms that stumble carelessly over one another, bleeding all over the track. 01:51 into the track, the chaos swiftly collapses into a sludgy, lethargic limp before a worryingly melodic lead line surfaces three minutes through, evoking genuine unease as Sabazios’ despondent cries are contrasted with a sprawling, unnervingly harmonious riff. 7 minutes into the track, and…fuck…the marching, warlike passage that sneered menacingly beneath the layers of filth is brought all the way to the forefront, like a jubilant affirmation of triumph after the 7 minute war that preceded it. BRILLIANT!
It is clear throughout this record that Sabazios has presented his most song-oriented recording to date on this effort. Of course, this means little when you are arguably the harshest, nastiest and most confoundingly chaotic entity on the extreme metal circuit, but there appears to be far more to grasp on to, more tangibly coherent riffs and deliberate moments inserted into the cruel malevolence. Stick around on “Storming Under Steel” and you’ll pick out the plodding ode to Dethroned Emperor that bubbles to the brim 2 minutes through. How about the Hellhammer/Necro Schizma-ish crawl that opens “Spear Of Destiny” (the Hellhammer influence resurfacing 03:20 minutes through) , later adorned with dissonant lead guitar and stampeding double bass? Much like the (slightly less) awesome Revenge, Lust have crafted their most approachable, most structured and discernible tracks to date. Lust is still pure war cohered in audio form- each instrument duels with the other in the mix, and each alternates in the mix as the focal lead instrument amidst a sea of dissonant confusion, yet on rare occasion Sabazios takes it upon himself to channel the individual components into one focused, cogently expressed groove.
This is clearly not a record for the masses- from the Nietzsche-leaning lyrics on the overman (“Birth Of The Unconquerable One”) to the ode to Hilter (“Spear Of Destiny”, where Sabazios proclaims the reign of fascism an “Atomic age ever enlightening”) to the cover art (A Nazi soldier stabbing a crucified Christ with a spear), this is possibly THE most subversive and disgusting release you will hear all year. Each track feels more like five compositions being played at the same time, each instrument embarking on individual tangents that are often incongruous with one another, but present a thoroughly intoxicating whole when digested at once. I can’t find the words to describe how utterly essential this disc is. Surely among the very finest discs you will hear this year…if you have the stomach for it, that is.
