Me and one-man atmospheric black metal band Lustre meet again. Nachtzeit, the man behind Lustre, has been very productive, releasing a full-length album and an EP just about every year since 2008. I guess once you create alone, unencumbered by a full band, only your own zeal, creativity and passion is the limit. Yet, I can't say that I have been mesmerized by what I have heard from Lustre and it is being mesmerized what this music truly requires to give it the highest grade. A Spark of Times of Old is another one of those EPs, which came in the same year with a full-length Wonder, and is basically a single 20 min long track. The earlier comparisons to more known Burzum and Xasthur or less known Fear of Eternity are still valid on A Spark of Times of Old, yet this record by Lustre has certain ancient prehistoric feeling on it, more epicness, so to speak. Title befitting, the fans of older Summoning could really hear similarities in this steady quiet drum machine rhythms and endless layered keyboards. Those key melodic hooks introduced periodically throughout the song are interesting and nice, but, in terms of songwriting it very soon becomes rather obvious how the music is going to unfold. Introduce a rhythm, play a melodic hook on top of it, repeat it for a few minutes, layer another one on top, repeat what is now a combination for a few more minutes, scrap and introduce the whole sequence anew. No acceleration, no complications. Just check this out: 3:40 into the song the first hook is in, then at 6:40 another one goes over the top, and then the most complexity is reached when another layer is added at around 7:50. By 9:15 everything is abandoned in favor of a new melodic replacement. 13:30 sees a new one twist layered over the fuzzy background after a temporary clearing. 15:15 is time for a final twist with 16:30 culminating in what I can call a "solo". Add short periodic snake-like hisses substituting for vocals, short bursts, not really sustained, at 2:20, 5:40, 10:40 and 17:50, and the picture is complete. Perhaps I am overly analytical describing A Spark of Times of Old, but this is how this music seems to me - formulaic. Not sure what profession Nachtzeit is outside of Lustre, but his music composing is so calculated here that I am thinking he could be in computers or mathematics. So while the flow, spirit and melody are real pleasant, the rigid nature of the music makes the overall material very expected, leaving little overall surprise. The best description I honestly give to A Spark of Times of Old is that of a PowerPoint presentation accompanied by a series of changing backgrounds and melodic moments in relationship to that background. As soon as the picture changes the melody changes too, albeit subtly, so the next time the slide is flipped you know what is coming music-wise. |
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Killing Songs : |
Alex quoted 70 / 100 | ||||||
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