Πέμπτη 10 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

LACHRYMOSE – Carpe Noctum review



 LACHRYMOSE – Carpe Noctum
Pure Steel Publishing
LACHRYMOSE is a new band rising from my hometown Thessaloniki, Greece, but  its member are not new to those who are into the extreme metal scene. You see LACHRYMOSE is the brainchild of the leader and main man of ROTTING FLESH, who, by the way, released an amazing album this year.
Anyway, I only mentioned this to show you that the band knows what they are doing and they are in fact veterans of the metal scene. However, don’t expect to listen to a similar sound from LACHRYMOSE. There’s nothing in common, other than the two band members they share, since musically these two bands couldn’t be more different. “Carpe Noctum” is a dark atmospheric album with gloomy and eerie melodies that are married together with imposing doom metal riffs and structures. The songs are heavy and a dark essence surrounds them; they have an imposing rhythm section and yet there’s always space for melodies. The vocals now are handled by a female vocalist who uses an operatic singing style with some male death metal growls here and there to enrich the end result. I have to say this is my only objection and the only thing I didn’t like on the album. I found the female vocals rather weak and monotonous. There were moments they didn’t sound compatible with the music and they really lack in variety. I think Hel has a nice pitch, but she needs to work more to enhance the plurality in her expression and performance. I have to say I enjoyed the death metal growls much more. There is also a guest appearance from Thomas Vikstrom in the song “In a Reverie” who elevates the song and makes it according to my humble opinion one of the best of the album with his excellent performance. To sum it all up I have to say that “Carpe Noctum” is a more than decent first effort with a very nice production, artwork and cool songs. If only the vocals were more varied, we’d be talking about a killer debut album!
Christine  Parastatidou

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