Luciferion
The Apostate
6.5
Someone must’ve struck black metal oil, because the flow of quasi-generic black metal seems to be ever-increasing. Luciferion is yet another somewhat generic black metal band, but luckily they have just enough original bits and pieces to tantalize your ears. To get a feel for the sound of this album, The Apostate, think of what Dimmu Borgir must’ve sounded like before they made it big: unpolished production, less over-the-top instrumentalism, and a little more of the underground sound. This, in a nutshell, is Luciferion. As far as the black metal elements go, this isn’t the "in the middle of the woods during a blizzard in the dead of winter at midnight" kind of black metal. This is more of the fancy, elaborate, melodic side of black metal a la Cradle of Filth or, as stated, Dimmu Borgir. This is due to the keyboards, the samples, the melodic elements, and the better production. Now, the production could've been much better here, as it sounds a little unpolished. It’s like forgetting to put on the final coat of clear coat paint: you’re 90% done, but it just lacks the luster and shimmering quality of perfect production. Luciferion is at their best when they hit a stride and have a great solo going over a rhythmic riff. Sometimes they’ll get a little crazy and it’ll get too chaotic to fully grasp. Either that or they’ll throw in a blast beat and pummel you with evil radiation. While that was said with a negative connotation, it’s actually a good thing. It breaks up what would’ve been an otherwise generic, boring flow, and turns it into something unique and interesting. It actually leans more towards death metal, now that I think about it. A great balance between the two most brutal genres, death and black. A Celtic Frost cover is also to be had here. This album seems to be two albums combined into one disc. The final five tracks have atrocious production, and boring songwriting. Separated by the cover, the first half of this disc is good, the second half is bad. I’m not quite sure what the deal is, but I was much more impressed by the former half than the latter. At one time featuring members of Lost Horizon and Dark Tranquillity, they have shed the stigma of those former members and their influences to create something non-Swedish sounding, even though it was recorded in Gothenburg. The influence isn’t completely gone, however you must erase any notion that this is a super-melodic album, or anything even resembling Gothenburg metal. What we have here is some black/death metal with some surprises, but in the end it ends up being similar to a lot of stuff already out there. Not that it’s bad, I’ve just heard it already. While I’m not the biggest fan of the genre, if you’re a fan, then I see no reason why you shouldn’t buy The Apostate.
New World to See - A showcase for the musicianship of the artists in the band; me likey
