Sunday 28 September 2014

Lunarsapian - "Fade Into Oblivion"

Lunarsapian are a 2 piece Drone/Doom band hailing from Clevedon (UK) and Alabama (USA). The members are "Scott K" (vocals and lyrics) and "Matt TK" (pretty much everything else). After a handful of successful demos, Fade Into Oblivion is their first full length album. Almost an hour of blackened and even suicidal Drone/Doom. An exceptional piece, with each song having the ability to be interpreted differently by the listeners preferences and mood.

It starts off with the track "Death Is All I Want". The vocals are pained and raw, the bass is high up on the mix and the percussion faded into the background. With the added effects and the tone of the guitar it gives the song a great atmosphere. A real dark depth, and it's safe to say it works very, very well. Towards the end of the track it gets darker, vocals are more prominent, guitar is a constant feature and it sounds more powerful as a whole. The track closes the same way as it starts, a distorted voice clip, but the way it's been edited it sounds like an slightly incomprehensible emergency broadcast, with the distortion it really adds to the sense of impending doom.

The next track is "Divide and Conquer". Starts straight away with a thick guitar sound, crisp sounding drum track and like track 1, raw powerful vocals. This time the effects are more subtle and the drums slightly more dominant. For me the effects (especially the wind) seems to pan more from the left, giving the song a more natural feel, which adds to the atmosphere and works well. Towards the end of the track the drums seem to subtly fade, and everything seems to have more of a haze. The guitar getting sharper, vocals drifting in and out, and the drums drifting between volumes. This works incredibly well with the song as a whole, with that and ending on a natural stormy sound it really does give you a feeling of desolation. 

The Craft and the Witch is the third track, that starts off with a medieval doom feel. As if it's a time of persecution and the plague is rife. The choice of samples for the intro are great. The vocal sample and what I can only describe as a "the old times" sound work fantastic together. It's the shortest track on the album, but by far the most atmospheric. 

As I Tie My Noose is by far my favourite track on the album, possibly even my favourite of the year. It starts off with howling winds and then just kicks you with powerful distorted guitar work and raw, desolate vocals. The production again is brilliant, it has the raw desire and need that every Black Metal track should have, but then has a very clear mix when the piano comes in. Even then it keeps the pure destruction in the vocals, and when  the guitar and bass kicks back in it's still as powerful whilst holding an even mix of the two too. If my world was to end any time soon, As I Tie My Noose would be my death track. 11 1/2 minutes of bliss.

Drowning In Blood is the 5th and final track of the album. It starts with the classic "transmitter fuzz" and sharp drums, closely joined by a powerful bass track and strained vocals that fits the track well. Even though it's more slower than the previous tracks, it's definitely more hostile.  Perfect soundtrack for a Cannibal Holocaust type situation, and a great way to finish the album. 

The album as a whole gave me an apocalyptic, smothering feel. Almost like drowning. Easily one of the best underground releases of the year.

You can get Fade Into Oblivion here.

You can also find the band here.










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