Cult of Luna
Salvation

February 2005
Released: 2004, Earache Records
Rating: 1.0/5
Reviewer: Lord of the Wasteland

I am new to Cult of Luna and quite honestly, I do not see what all the fuss is about. The band seems to be able to do no wrong in the eyes of reviewers and critics, landing stellar reviews across the board. What I heard on their new CD, SALVATION, is 75 minutes of pretentious, overly-long, plodding songs that barely escalate above heavy metal elevator music. The band is comprised of SEVEN members so one would think that there is a lot going on here but that just is not the case. Half of the songs are over the ten minute mark (the shortest is nearly six) and are more tedious than the most heinous of conceivable tortures. Each song follows exactly the same format—lengthy, ambient build-up, loud section, quiet fade-out. EVERY SONG! Something can be said for the melancholy delivery of a band like Neurosis but Cult of Luna is NOT Neurosis and nothing good can be said about SALVATION.



At 12:30 in length, the album opener, “Echoes,” takes six minutes to go anywhere beyond a piece of muted keyboard programming. Klas Rydberg’s growl finally livens the track up but the final two minutes of the song turtles back into hiding with just as melancholy a tone as it began with. “Vague Illusions” bleeds into “Leave Me Here” and so on. One track is virtually indistinguishable from the next as the listener is left in this catatonic state of boredom. “Waiting For You” takes an incredible NINE AND A HALF MINUTES for anything to go beyond white noise and keyboard effects and then a minute later…it’s over?!



I listened to this CD from start to finish several times over the course of two months thinking something might finally click. Well, it didn’t. This stuff could sedate a rabid pit bull that ate a whole bottle of NO-DOZ pills. If SALVATION is not one of the most over-hyped and misdirected albums of 2004, I don’t know what is. I want SALVATION…from ever having to waste another 75 minutes listening to this rubbish again.



KILLER KUTS: None!