The personell-wise extremely overlapping bands Lotus Thief and Forlesen have released a split CD with one eleven something minutes long song each. I guess the critic's challenge here is to determine what's the difference between the two groups in the first place. Which is a bit tricky, because they both don't stick to one specific style but still incorporate several similar influences. Hard to say where Lotus Thief ends and Forlesen begins.... I guess I'll simply listen to the music at hand and see if I can crack that enigma along the way.
LOTUS THIEF / FORLESEN - Lotus Thief / Forlesen (CD) (2024)
The first track is Lotus Thief's "In Perdition". Their Scripture Metal has always been based on ancient texts. This time it is the novella "Il Decamerone", which Giovanno Boccaccio published in 1353, a tale in which people seek shelter during the Black Death. It's a majestic, partly Blackened Doom Metal epic, mostly carried by Bezaelith's beatiful, yet also grave and stern voice, whereas Ascalaphus' occasional harsh vocals serve a rather textural purpose. The historic air and solemn ceremonial tone of Lotus Thief sets them apart and makes this a great memorable song.
Forlesen then move away from expectations with their version of the American traditional "Black Is The Color", which joins interpretations from The Body & Big|Brave and Jazz singer Youn Sun Nah in my collection, proving that great source material can be translated into all kinds of different languages without loosing its power. This song sees Bezaelith as the dominant vocalist again, yet this time with Ascalaphus adding deep clean harmonies to this profoundly sad funeral dirge. Definitely a somehow easier to grasp track than what we're used to from this band (whose 2022 album "Black Terrain" is still among my very favorite Doom offerings of recent years), yet the interplay between singing, minimal drums, droning guitars and hopeful piano makes this amazing rendition work perfectly.
Unsurprisingly the résumé of this review can only be the desperate question: Why not more of this? It's fantastic.
So can you distinguish the bands based on this split alone? While the songs are indeed quite different, I'd still say: No, not really, I guess. But that also just plainly means they're both great.
Anyway, the Albrecht Dürer cover artwork fits both groups, while the small black-on-red typography on a shiny digipak continues the I, Voidhanger Records tradition of horribly readable items. Maybe that's just a test to question whether we really love the music itself. And yes, we do love this!
(Still waiting for Roadburn Festival to book both of them as a package, honestly. Well, maybe next year!)
The first track is Lotus Thief's "In Perdition". Their Scripture Metal has always been based on ancient texts. This time it is the novella "Il Decamerone", which Giovanno Boccaccio published in 1353, a tale in which people seek shelter during the Black Death. It's a majestic, partly Blackened Doom Metal epic, mostly carried by Bezaelith's beatiful, yet also grave and stern voice, whereas Ascalaphus' occasional harsh vocals serve a rather textural purpose. The historic air and solemn ceremonial tone of Lotus Thief sets them apart and makes this a great memorable song.
Forlesen then move away from expectations with their version of the American traditional "Black Is The Color", which joins interpretations from The Body & Big|Brave and Jazz singer Youn Sun Nah in my collection, proving that great source material can be translated into all kinds of different languages without loosing its power. This song sees Bezaelith as the dominant vocalist again, yet this time with Ascalaphus adding deep clean harmonies to this profoundly sad funeral dirge. Definitely a somehow easier to grasp track than what we're used to from this band (whose 2022 album "Black Terrain" is still among my very favorite Doom offerings of recent years), yet the interplay between singing, minimal drums, droning guitars and hopeful piano makes this amazing rendition work perfectly.
Unsurprisingly the résumé of this review can only be the desperate question: Why not more of this? It's fantastic.
So can you distinguish the bands based on this split alone? While the songs are indeed quite different, I'd still say: No, not really, I guess. But that also just plainly means they're both great.
Anyway, the Albrecht Dürer cover artwork fits both groups, while the small black-on-red typography on a shiny digipak continues the I, Voidhanger Records tradition of horribly readable items. Maybe that's just a test to question whether we really love the music itself. And yes, we do love this!
(Still waiting for Roadburn Festival to book both of them as a package, honestly. Well, maybe next year!)
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen