By: Richard Maw
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 25/03/2016
Label: Rise Above Records
“Lusus
Naturae” is a fine entry into the Book of Doom; and one that points towards
great things to come. With the backing of Rise Above Records, the band are sure
to become cult favourites. The upcoming April UK tour seems like one to catch
while the band is still playing smaller venues. Definitely check this record
out and find out for yourself.
“Lusus Naturae” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Clouds In The Sky
2. Eyes Are Watching
3. Arachne
4. Skin Crawler
5. Find The Stranger
6. You Must Sin
7. Burnt Offering
8. Mask Of Satan
9. It
10. Astral Corpse
11. Lusus Naturae
12. The Strain
The Review:
With
a tolling bell and a warm analogue sound, it is clear where the latest signings
to Rise Above are coming from (but oddly it is not Birmingham, England). Sure
Enough, “Clouds In the Sky” and “Eyes Are Watching”
are chock full of lumbering tar thick riffs and the vocals are reassuringly
clean and high pitched. No doubt about it, this is trad doom (with a retro
angle, naturally)
The
sound is raw, with a good mix so you can hear all the instruments nicely. The
bass sound is nicely clanky with lots of gain, with the drums boxy and live
sounding. “Skin Crawler” exhibits lovely riffing from the off; double
tracked vocals are go as the verse kicks in. An excellent slowed down clean
sections gives way to a fantastic solo too. All boxes ticked, this is a stand
out track.
“Find The Stranger” has creepy atmospherics aplenty- as the title
suggests- and a real atmosphere of impending doom. Dynamics are used to good
effect and the track builds to a lovely solo. “You Must Sin” marks
the half way point of the record and delivers a solid and hard riffing track
with some good time changes. Similarly, “Burnt
Offering” rings the changes with riffs but brings in the lead work earlier.
A catchy hook does not hurt, either. “Mask
of Satan” is doom in the purest sense; pounding tribal sounding drums before the main
riff snakes out of the speakers prior to a drop out to allow the vocal to come
in. Echoing Pentagram's early work is no bad thing, and
the band do it to great effect here. It is a crawling track of slow tempos and
horror themes; the drinking of human blood and so forth...
“Astral Corpse” (great title) is also a plodding beast, with a
similar feel to “Electric Funeral” to
the delivery. The title track delivers a summation of the band's sound
effectively. There is a clean section to go with the doom laden riffage, vocals
are delivered with conviction and the band lays out its manifesto with aplomb.
The album closes with “The Strain”
which is slow doom; Ozzy inflected vocal
hooks abound as the riffs are given space to breathe for maximum impact.
“Lusus
Naturae”
is a fine entry into the Book of Doom; and one that points towards great things
to come. With the backing of Rise Above Records, the
band are sure to become cult favourites. The upcoming April UK tour seems like
one to catch while the band is still playing smaller venues. Definitely check
this record out and find out for yourself.
“Lusus
Naturae” is available here
