Review Summary: This album is packed with goodies scattered across genres and is piled high with massive riffs. Take a bite into the Cement Sun.
When you think of Michigan, you may think of fast drivers, Eminem, The Great Lakes, Islands, Beer, and Snow. But at this point, you probably haven't heard of
Lucius Fox. Hailing from Kalamazoo, MI this 2-piece blends metal, math, and post-rock into a cinematic soundscape much larger than the sum of their members. Less experimental than
Planets or
Imelda Marcos, L.Fox reminds me more of
Russian Circles because of their ripping of massive riffs interspersed between washing ambiance.
Cement Sun is a step forward from their first EP "Where have you been?". The drums bring more viscera and the guitar riffs are just much larger. The album opens with "Stratovolcano" an ode to imposing geology that rains down a barrage of volcanic riffs. It's all killer and no filler. Luis brings in some punk drumming influence to round out the aggressive shredding and carry through to the next song.
The rest of the album jumps from riff to riff with the drums holding down the fort driving the songs forward in the interstice between the shredding. "Keith Green", presumably a reference to the famous Christian musician, has the album's only vocal part. The crooning is buried beneath the rest of the soundscape, and I think that's a wise decision as the vocals don't quite hit all the intended pitches. However, I applaud the refusal to cop out and use melodyne or autotune and to leave the original intact. When you only have 4 lines of lyrics on an entire full-length album, the words hold much more weight. "Step down and run, you coward with false tongue" indeed, I shall run to the next topic.
There are some production issues that do bring down the experience of this album. Segments where the guitars are sloppily recorded and the drums don't entirely find the pocket. The overall mix is also very aggressive but feels stagnant at the same time. I couldn't begin to describe this because I'm not an expert in production, but there's both too much space in the drums and too much punch at the same time. This can be seen in the kick sound in "Shapeshifter" around the 2 minute mark. It just sounds super dead, but the snare sounds like it has the reverb of a large church. It's just not fair to say that this production represents the care and effort put into writing and performing these songs. Overall it's not entirely bad, but detracts from the experience of what the Fox has written. I've seen them perform live, and this album does not do them justice.
That all said, The closer "Tunnel" comes in north of 8 minutes, and is a worthy closing track. It also has guitar chugs that allude to "Stratovolcano" and complete the cycle of the album back to the top. I always appreciate when care is given to the entire experience of listening to and repeating an album in-order. If you haven't given this album a listen, you should. It's packed with goodies scattered across genres and is piled high with massive riffs. Take a bite into the Cement Sun.
Favorite Tracks : Caged Bird, Lake Effect, Solar Eyes
