2010-02-14
It seems but natural that Canada, and British Columbia in this case, are the black metal north-American equivalent of Norway. The northern hemisphere certainly has a way of making nature speak loudly through the music, and folk-black metal is certainly one of the truest expressions of winter in musical form.
With such bands as Agaloch and Woods of Ypres serving as two good examples of black metal with an added layer of atmosphere,
Black Lotus certainly fit in well in the same category, bringing to mind such European counterparts as Borknagar and mid-area Enslaved.
From the slow, monotonic intro the band marches on unto Signatura Rerum, a fast, crescendo-like whirlwind of fast picked riffs, blast-beats and the strong black mid-range vocal of vocalist Jasper v.d. Veen, his delivery becomes more interesting when moving to a melodic, double-layered clean vocal that easily brought to mind Borknagar's Vintersorg.
The production here isn't half-bad, it may not be as clear cut and polished as some of the Norwegian genre forefathers', but definitely lets the band's talent shine through the mix, I would give the guitars a bit more of an edge, but it still works well with the music.
Two songs struck me as better than others, the massive – epic Terra Hiberna, with a complex and atmospheric structure, and the next one, the far less complex Wreath of the Triumphant Sun, a fast and furious number which still serves excellent folk-black metal, while retaining the genre's more violent traits.
All-in-all, a fairly impressive sophomore release by a band that might be making its mark alongside some of the giants of the genre, almost everything on the album works, and while not yet a genre-classic, still a fine example of a true black-folk metal album.
Alon Miasnikov
