Lycus - Demo MMXI

''I reflect in Solitude...''

Lycus is a funeral doom band hailing from Sacramento, California. They were formed in 2008, and after several months of the formation of the band, with very limited live perfomances, a self-released demo and numerous lineup changes the band were forced to split-up due to the wavering of the bands lineup. After relocating to San Francisco, Jackson and Deschryver, the founding members reunited with a new lineup and finally released this demo. And thus brings us to this review...

The demo starts out with the track 'Resonance in Aether', this track is just pure gold because of its intro with dissonance guitar-riffs and choir-vocals and when finally the real vocals comes in with those monstrous growls that brings chills down your spine. The vocals really compliment the guitar riffs, and also works well together with the drums. The bass is also quite audible, soothing to the ears and plays quite pensive riffs... this especially can be heard on the intro to the track 'Among the Ruins', it also just pounds the living shit out of the open string riffs during the midsections of all the songs which is really nice if you're listening to this on a big stereo like I do. The lyrics are also quite good, giving that you read the lyrics while you listen to the music, they give you a sense of doubt and that the world is going to end pretty soon... or that has already ended and these guys are the only ones left to play their sorrowful funeral doom to the mass graves of humanity...

The production is also some worthy of mentioning, its relatively clean, not giving the demo a 'poppy' sound but instead intensifying the record by adding a little muddiness to the mix. Greg Wilkinson who were responsible for the recording of the Asunder and Graves at Sea split (which is one of the best splits I ever heard) and mixing the Necrot demo and Atriarch's Forever the End really did a great job on here... I hope he comes back and mixes the full-length Lycus has planning to record and release soon enough.

Demo MMXI is easily one of the best demos 2011 had to offer.. even for the genre of funeral doom it was the best of that year! So yeah... not much more to be said than... fuckin' listen to it.

Rating

7.6

The Cleansing - Feeding the Inevitable

"Contaminated Yet Cleansed"


It wasn't until August 2012 I really explored The Cleansing when they warmed up for Gorguts in Copenhagen. Prior to that I only knew the band by name and I was only present to see Gorguts perform for the first time in 16 years or so on Danish soil. But I got bored of waiting and forced my ass inside where The Cleansing had just begun their set, and I was positively surprised. I decided to explore the band further and learned that they had another singer when they started out, and their first album is not really in the reach of my likings to be honest. So after acquiring the new lead singer Toke Eld, The Cleansing set out to record the follow up to the bands debut, Poisoned Legacy. Previously Toke used to be the front man of Usipian which he formed back in the day, but taking part in The Cleansing has been a wise choice and with the new vocals I think the band sound better than ever!

The more I listen to this record the better it gets. People often describes the band, and their albums as mediocre, and maybe they are. To be honest I am not a death metal fanatic but I enjoy some of the old stuff from the nineties. As I said, the record gets better for every listen. At first it didn't strike me as anything special, but after some time and really listening it through it has received a lot of air play on my stereo lately.
With smashing highlights in the likes of Third Eye Starring, Hour of Decadence, Two Days and Crossroads and down to the slower but yet still awesome song Processed to Contamination a song that just got a special feel to it. If you like me enjoy to work out and need a little refreshment for your playlists of fierce power, it would be a good idea to include some songs from this album. The feel of the album really comes to life if you own a good pair of speakers. Everything blends in the way it should and sound wise there is not really anything that I would put a finger on, production wise. Every album has its fillers and doll moments and so does this Feeding the Inevitable.

If you like Behemoth then there is a chance this is something for you as they got a few similarities. I noticed this as when I suddenly had the urge to listen to some Behemoth, so after hearing some tracks from Evangelion and Thelema.6, I was pulling towards another cleansing listen of Feeding the Inevitable. If you however don't like Behemoth then don't be scared off! I said a few similarities.  

Remy Cuveillier is the artist who brought forth the artwork for this album, he has also made artwork for bands like Thy Art Is Murder, Terrordome, Dawn of Disease and Whitechapel. There's not really anything mind blowing about the cover, but it sure isn't an ugly cover. For a follow up to this album I hope maybe the band would employ Dan Seagrave no matter how cliché it might be. Actually Toke's former band Usipian had Seagrave create the artwork for their album Dead Corner of the Eye, so maybe there's hope?

Feeding the Inevitable is a good and solid death metal album with a scent of brutal style over it. Mediocre or not, this album entertained me from start till finish and I believe that the bands finest work is yet to come.

Rating

7.8