Lustre
Wonder

September 2013
Released: 2013, Nordvis
Rating: 2.0/5
Reviewer: Metal-Rules.com UK Team

Sweden’s ‘Lustre’ formed in 2008 with member Nachtzeit releasing, his first EP in 2008, which then followed the release of album ‘A Glimpse of Glory’, which I really enjoyed and is now back with the release of ‘Wonder’. Lustre’s sound is very atmospheric black metal with slow ambient sounds and includes some beautiful intros and melodies throughout. The album only consists of 4 songs, but each track is nearly 10 minutes long.



The concept of this album doesn’t centre on nature as much, like his previous work, but is stated is to expand between the earth and the cosmos. Black metal is known to be traditionally harsh and cold, but this album is far from that. In fact it if wasn’t for the slight quiet graspy black metal ‘not really there’ vocals, it would just be an electro, ambient album. The album is hypnotic and tries to take you on an inner stargazing journey; having some sweet sounds in the intro’s and synths which did flow nicely throughout with the added riffs, but the main thing that let the album down for me really is the production side. You can’t hear the instruments clearly and some of the vocals and guitaring gets lost over the louder sounds, which for me let the album down, giving it an ‘amateur’ feel, especially when it comes to the keyboards, which are far too over bearing and repetitive.



I did enjoy track 2 ‘Green Worlds’, I loved the delicate intro with the black metal elements kicking in after, but felt there should’ve been vocals in this track, in fact there should have been a lot more vocals throughout this album. I can’t see this being popular with black metal fans, as there’s not much black metal in this release at all and is a let down compared to the previous album, but may be appreciated for those who like their electro, dark, slow and need something to fall asleep too.



For fans of this album, there will be a vinyl edition issued by Eisenwald (Germany) in two different colours, black & forest green, maybe someone out there will appreciate it more than I did.



Review by Jo Blackened