Customer Reviews

God the Lux

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With members from Poland's greatest extreme bands Vader and Behemoth, namely Orion on guitars and vocals and Daray on drums, Vesania's second album is a good example of symphonic black metal. Although more noticeable on their debut, their music is still undeniably influenced by Emperor, both in the way the keyboards are used and its almost mechanical production. Orion's vocals are more like death growls rather than screamed black metal shrieks though. He sounds a bit like Shagrath from Dimmu Borgir as he opts for a rough, gravelly delivery. And when the music is decorated with elaborate synth lines, as on "Fireclipse", marked by very heavy riffs, the comparisons are inevitable. Likewise, "Synchroscheme" features luscious keyboards contrasted by brutal vocals and an Emperor-like song pattern.

As much as Napalm Records may claim otherwise, Vesania isn't breaking new ground. However, they certainly are a good band in the way that they know songs can use all kinds of variation in rhythm and tempo. Rather than playing stupidly fast guitar licks and incessant double bass drums, drummer Daray certainly incorporates his death metal background in the mix with awesome cymbal hopping on the tremelo-picked "Rest in Pain", a song defined by a fierce rhythmic anchor, melodic breaks, and symphonic sounds. At the end of the song, however, Daray reaches his ultimate apex as his playing matches the speed of a steam engine. Aside from the blast beat-ridden drums, the guitar work alternates between slow, menacing riffage to ultra-heavy and crushing tones. Also, three out of twelve songs are interspersed between the tracks to help diversify God the Lux, as they are short instrumental pieces where keyboardist Siegmar from Hasperos lays down some delicate orchestration similar to the stuff heard on Limbonic Arts' records. He plays effect-laden passages of atmosphere with an added breadth to the sound. Gothic darkness, male and female voiceovers, a deliberately bad mix all unite in perfect harmony by the time the following song kicks in. "Phosphorror" opens up with sweet synth tones before it veers into Vesania's classic Emperor meets Dimmu Borgir trademark, but halfway through, the song is broken down into segments of orchestral soundscapes with easy shifts in harmony. This might be the most original thing on the album. One thing I can't understand is why they decided to put a 25-minute track as the album closer of which 24 minutes are total silence. If this was an attempt to create tension or atmosphere, I'm much of the opinion that Vesania should leave these kinds of things up to the gods like Ulver and Agalloch. Vesania is better off playing old school black metal with modern production and intricate instrumentation in my opinion.

Granted it's far from any Behemoth or Vader album, God the Lux is still a fine piece of work. With both bands' heavy touring and recording schedules, we should give both Orion and Daray credit as they still find the time to carry on with this project.

I'm surprised this band isn't getting more attention. This CD shows that they have developed a very aggresive sound. Posthuman Kind is definately THE stand out track, it is just so powerful and epic. It has the later Dimmu feel, however, not all tracks are like this. The rest of the tracks are just brutal metal, Orion, of BEHEMOTH, another great band, does the vocals and guitar work. A big complaint of mine about this album, and this is why I gave it 4 stars, is that the vocals are mixed so far back in the music you can barely hear them. Synchroscheme is a great blast beat filled track of metal. A lot of promise on this, the album feels a little disjointed at times and this causes some of the songs to not be that memorable. A great buy if you enjoy well produced black metal/thrash metal, Behemoth fans will probably enjoy this. The vocals are definately not as deep as Behemoth's, more like mid-range growling.

Vesania is a truly talented band. With members from Behemoth and Vader you know that this cd should be good and thankfully it is. In kind of a symphonic black/death metal combination, Vesania creates some excellent music. All of the tracks are amazing and the production is very well done. My only complaint would be that its a little on the short side but thats not a big deal. If you are looking for a band that is great at what they play and hasn't gone the mainstream route of other blackmetal bands, then grab yourself a copy of God the Lux. You won't be sorry.

'God the Lux' holds merit as both a piece of introspective philosophy and a talented and progressive black metal set piece.

Lyrically Vesania has some of the best lyrics in all of metal - if you like Borknagar lyrically you will enjoy the intensely philosophic lyrics of Vesania. Vesania covers topics such as impermenance of matter in the vein of Heraclitus, the superficial and often dishonest nature of human beings, the suffering of iconoclasts and those who chose not to live within society's vile ways; the silence and desolation found there, metamorphosis, existentialism, nihilism and much more. The album also follows a narrative centered around the speaker's transformation into a 'self-styled archangel' and his smiting of society. At the end its suggested that the entire album has been a existential dream:

heads high, nothing can stand our wrath
heads high, never stop to dream on
heads high, no one can bury our realm
assassination of hypocrites

now watch them falling
but do you enjoy your dream?
is 'everything' enough?
aren't you trying to walk the path you've never understood?

yet underneath laughter and sun
consequence of all my will and truth
I scatter the ashes of mirrors of me, crushed
legions army

The theory that the entire narrative being a existential dream is hinted at on the album's last track, which is just 26 minutes of silence called "Inlustra Nigror" which means literally "Darkness, be light!" in Latin. If interpretted in this way, the lyrics and experience of listenting to Vesania take on a even more tragic and poignant meaning.

The narrative isn't so much the central focus of the lyrics but rather a device to discuss various philosophic topics. Its clear that Orion not only has a masterful understanding of english poetics but also a mastering of brevity. Vesania's lyrics are some of the most introspective and thought provoking in all of metal and I read them whenever I listen to the album. The album is littered with various profound quotes elegantly inserted between Orion's own lyrics:

I walked through the dimensions incorporeal
and I looked with the eyes of the dragon
through the fabulous gates to the other aeons
to see
incredible dreams of mists fosforizing
enchanting mirages of omnipotent kingdoms

forget about your earthly wounds,
grievous disaster, trust no one!
'you are creatures of light
for light have you come, to light shall you go
and surrounding you through every step
is the light of your infinite being'

'the world of me was not a word
it was not even a thought,
but it was reality more real than this one,
to which I was assigned'

my shadow disappeared at the moment
when I looked at the sun for the last time
'no wonder, therefore in all the world
if a shadow darkens upon my spirit
when I reflect on the fates of men -
how one by one, proud warriors vanish
from the halls that knew them
and day by day, all this earth ages
droop unto death'

no man may know the wisdom,
thus spake the sage!

'by your choice dwell you now in the world,
that you have created
what you hold in your heart shall be true
and what you most admire,
that shall you become'

dreams steal the night
and they go away without farewell
taking away the consciousness:
what should I become to understand...

Technically Vesania is also very impressive. The entire album is themed in an organic melody which drifts from one track to the next, giving the album a tight, connected feel. The samples and melodic keyboards never become cheesy but only aid in the impact of the raw emotion the album seeks to create in the listener. The melody itself is haunting and mysterious, at times manifesting itself as a nefarious bonechime plucking and at other times sounding like a pad from a electronic album. The melodics of the album often make the listener think of cosmology and ancient, unspeakable divinities(at least in my experience).

On top of the melody is furious blast beats from Vader's Daray and grinding guitars and bass. At times a guitar solo is masterfully implemented without any awkwardness. Orion provides harsh and at times furious ("WHY DO I STILL SEE, THIS PITIFUL WORLD HERE?") vocals which are easily understandable but still manage to remain truly vicious. Sometimes Orion switches to sorrowful moans which convey true agony and disgust (when Orion does this it reminds me of Amon Amarth). The overall sound of Vesania sounds quite unique and progressive and has been the first band to really combine a melodic undertone with brutal technical precision without any negative side effects.

God the Lux is not only a album but a introspective journey that must be taken. Overall I would say 'God the Lux' is easily 2005 extreme metal (if not metal) album of the year.

If you liked 'God the Lux' check out Borknagar, Emperor and Agaithodaimon.