instrumental atmospheric (post-) black metal
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People who regularly read my reviews, might already know that I admire instrumental music. In fact, I've turned down many albums in the past because of the vocals but I will rarely turn down unsung music. Leaving our vocals, actually results in one less thing that can break an album. So when this e.p. reached my inbox, I immediately became interested.
Vision Lunar is a one-man act from Canada, focusing on instrumental black metal. The project was formed by Alexandre Julien in 2006, disbanded in 2009 and resurfaced early 2015. Meanwhile, a pretty succesful compilation with previous work was released. Yet, this e.p. is brand new, and it's something weird. Interesting, absolutely, but still a bit off from what you expect with amtospheric black metal.
What Vision Lunar does, is quite similar to many modern day black metal bands who usually are tagged 'post-black metal'. Yet, there is a lot of old school atmosphere in these songs, something that often lacks with bands like Deafheaven, Wolves In The Throne Room or Altar Of Plagues. This atmosphere is mainly caused by the production level, which resembles some the basement-recordings of the nineties.
That being said, the music honestly deserves better that this production, because it's pretty damn good. 'Desperation' opens with atmospheric ambient keyboards, immediately evoking the bleak feel of the whole. When the guitars come in, it's post-black metal all the way. Great headbanging material. That certainly counts for 'Spiritus Luna', the longest and heaviest track in this e.p. and absolutely my favorite of the three.
The music is almost trance-inducing at times, caused by adding layers of sound to the whole. The instrumental nature also makes it a great album for post-rock and even shoegaze fans. It would be great if Alexandre Julien would find some musicians to help him make this a live-act because the stage is where this music could truly shine. I'm not sure if that'll ever happen so from now on, I'll just play this album as a warm-up for the gigs I'm going to go to in the near future.
Serge
Vision Lunar is a one-man act from Canada, focusing on instrumental black metal. The project was formed by Alexandre Julien in 2006, disbanded in 2009 and resurfaced early 2015. Meanwhile, a pretty succesful compilation with previous work was released. Yet, this e.p. is brand new, and it's something weird. Interesting, absolutely, but still a bit off from what you expect with amtospheric black metal.
What Vision Lunar does, is quite similar to many modern day black metal bands who usually are tagged 'post-black metal'. Yet, there is a lot of old school atmosphere in these songs, something that often lacks with bands like Deafheaven, Wolves In The Throne Room or Altar Of Plagues. This atmosphere is mainly caused by the production level, which resembles some the basement-recordings of the nineties.
That being said, the music honestly deserves better that this production, because it's pretty damn good. 'Desperation' opens with atmospheric ambient keyboards, immediately evoking the bleak feel of the whole. When the guitars come in, it's post-black metal all the way. Great headbanging material. That certainly counts for 'Spiritus Luna', the longest and heaviest track in this e.p. and absolutely my favorite of the three.
The music is almost trance-inducing at times, caused by adding layers of sound to the whole. The instrumental nature also makes it a great album for post-rock and even shoegaze fans. It would be great if Alexandre Julien would find some musicians to help him make this a live-act because the stage is where this music could truly shine. I'm not sure if that'll ever happen so from now on, I'll just play this album as a warm-up for the gigs I'm going to go to in the near future.
Serge
