While one can type an entire doctoral thesis on the downsides of Spotify, I’ll give the streaming behemoth credit where credit is due. If it weren’t for their everchanging daily mixes, I have no clue how many bands, songs, or albums I’d go my entire life without. It’s the same premise as the old iTunes Genius feature, but taken to an extreme that Steve Jobs could’ve never imagined. One of the bands who caught my ear after appearing on one of these daily mixes was Lunar Shadow. This German outfit’s brand of traditional metal was characterized by dark atmosphere and sporadic passages of black metal, the latter inspired by the 90s Hellenic scene. I say “was” because Lunar Shadow has taken a complete 180 on their latest album, Wish to Leave.
Instead of releasing another collection of retro metal ranging from the epic to the progressive, Lunar Shadow has found a comfortable spot in the gothic metal niche popularized in recent years by bands like Idle Hands and Tribulation. This sound focuses less on the “metal” and more on the “gothic”. In Lunar Shadow’s case, I hesitate to label Wish to Leave a metal album at all. There are entire tracks that abandon any semblance to their past sound. That said, the metallic undertones, sporadic as they may be, are present enough throughout to warrant the label.
Wish to Leave opens with the ominous “Serpents Die”. This is an atmospheric metal song with huge emphasis on 80s goth rock and post-punk. The menacing riffing and Cirith Ungol style vocals make up its metal side. Countering that is a cold guitar tone and a pulsing rhythm section that sounds straight off a New Order song. It’s a combination that shouldn’t work, but does and sets the stage for the rest of the album. Following this is “Delomelanicon”, which features those melodic twin Mercyful Fate leads that were such a prominent part of past Lunar Shadow efforts. It’s the most metal we’ll hear on this album for a while.
“I Will Lose You” combines the drab atmosphere of post-punk with the hooks of 80s pop music. Just as The Cure and The Cult and every other major label 80s post-punk/goth band needed “the single”, so does Lunar Shadow. Well, they didn’t necessarily “need” a single. It’s not like you’re going to hear Lunar Shadow on your local butt rock radio station’s playlist anytime soon. Nevertheless, it’s a throwback to a bygone era when such music was marketable and profitable. This is followed by the album’s dark horse, “To Dusk and I Love You”. Forget heavy metal. Forget even rock. This is a full blown torch song that you’d hear over a candlelit dinner at a 5 star restaurant. Kudos to guitarist Max Birbaum for closing the track out with a tasty Mark Knopfler inspired solo.
“And Silence Screamed” returns to the gothic metal formula demonstrated on “Serpents Die”, before the album closes with “The Darkness Between the Stars”. You want black metal? You got it. That said, the black metal showcased on this nearly 10 minute grand finale takes more from the “atmospheric” or “post” realm than the traditional realm Lunar Shadow are known for dabbling in. Fear not “trve” metal warriors! There’s still enough traditionalism to this song to separate it from the current hipster crop of black metal.
I must admit that if this is the new direction Lunar Shadow is headed in, it’s gonna take me a little bit to get used to. There are moments throughout Wish to Leave which display great promise. The fact that they were able to take such a drastic creative shift and still come across so convincing is an achievement in and of itself. Time will tell if they accentuate their metal side or abandon it altogether. No matter what the case, I anticipate an album which will build upon this new foundation, gothic ornamentation and all.
6 out of 10
Label: Cruz del Sur Music
Genre: Gothic Metal
For fans of: Idle Hands, Tribulation, Mercyful Fate