Review Summary: Mood music for the bLaKn'D soul!
One-man projects can have many ups and downs. A possible downside to a solo effort can be the lack of variety within the music itself. It can be beneficial to have other musicians around to act as a reference for the quality of the music. A lone artist may not have that little voice inside their head saying, “Hey man, that riff sucks.”
The positive side to flying solo is the outcome can be a focused and intensely personal album. It can result in an artist visualizing and producing a concept exactly the way it was intended to sound. A few great examples of such an outcome include Ainulindale’s
The Lay of Leithian or
A Collapse Of Faith by October Falls. Both of these albums exemplify the precise realization of a single artist’s inspiration, woven together by consistent, powerful themes.
A Glimpse Of Glory is another fine example.
The album is all about atmosphere. The listener is immersed in it from the onset of the first track. 'This Mighty Sight' epic motif rides on a flurry of wind and snow. Layers of synth lift the listener to the peak of a snow-capped mountain. From here, the listener surveys a vast land and soundscape painted in dark purples and violent, fiery hues of orange and red. A solemn cymbal cuts through the thick wall of thundering guitar and towering keyboards, stinging like the icy wind behind it. Nachtzeit’s rasps first appear around the 5-minute mark, barely resembling vocals at all. His voice sounds more like a harsh interpretation of the wind. It’s shrill, but it’s buried and lyrics, if there are any, cannot be discerned.
The song takes a quieter turn around the 10 minute mark. The keyboards take on a marimba-like quality and presents a new, raindrop sort of melody. It’s soon backed by a swell of synths and a roar of distant guitar. The second half of the song does not quite reach the intense heights of the beginning, but instead allows the listener to descend closer to the frozen, yet colorful valleys previously witnessed at altitude.
Something worth noting is the amount of musical repetition may deter some listeners from enjoying this album. Lustre tend to explore a single, central melody of 3 to 4 chords or notes for 10 minutes or more. The variations mostly occur behind the melody. Guitars fade in and out along with the percussion and other supporting synths. This trait is characteristic of ambient music and ambient black metal, however, and shouldn't disturb fans of the genre.
Album highlight 'Lunar Light' boasts the most variation, starting quietly and breaking into a beautiful climax at around 3 minutes in. A cymbal smashes out a sort of blast beat rhythm while the sorrowful synths soar overhead. The glorious melody is later accented by "marimba” sounds and wolf howls before drifting away on the crackle of a fire.
Long, droning hums of gloomy keyboards supplemented by chirping bird make 'Amongst The Trees' the most lulling and relaxed moment on the album. Its warmer atmosphere overstays its welcome somewhat, but the track serves as a suitable repose, considering all the heavy material that preceded it.
Fans of traditional black metal may find Lustre’s music to be too mellow. The tapestrylike quality of the keyboards and guitar tend to be more uplifting than not. But for fans of epic fuzziness, black metal elements and nature,
A Glimpse Of Glory may prove to be a perfect cool down album.
