Cult of Luna: More Than Just a Metal Band Review

[This month, I have cast aside my usual offering of satire and blithe irreverence. I wanted to devote my column to the role of "getting the word out", so to speak, for a band whose act I caught in Worcester, on May 5th of this year, and whose live sound and approach utterly knocked me over. Perhaps it is all of the numerous shreds of mainstream entertainment idiocy we identify, arguably on a daily basis, which make it THAT more refreshing for us, when we stumble upon those rare gems of the musical underground. In this particular instance, the diamond in the rough of which I speak is Cult of Luna.]

May 5th, 2005.

For a weeknight, the Worcester Palladium would soon be impressively packed, wall to wall, with bodies--- scores of metal heads on a pilgrimage of sorts, who were soon to pile in to catch Mastodon work their insane musical rite. 

Much fewer were present for the opening act, perhaps 50 or so. The lights were soon brought down until the club was black as pitch, and only the soft glow of LEDs could be seen from Cult of Luna's equipment. The band took the stage, minus the vocalist--- but the lights stayed out. I drank my beer down. They began their set--- a warbling, spacey collection of delayed stringwork. Those ready to scrap in the pit dropped their guard, and relaxed. The dynamism of strength and volume built itself, until the band blazed out full throttle with a sonic landslide of mid tempo rumble. The singer hollered out shots of words in a manner that took me back to the late 80's hardcore shows of yore. With nothing between the band and the audience but crushing riffage and a wall of darkness, people stood there, confused--- no colored lights, no false blood, no appeals to save the environment, no stage strippers--- my interest was officially piqued. 

Having emerged from the remnants (vocalist Klas Rydberg and guitarist Johannes Persson) of a hardcore outfit known as Eclipse, Cult of Luna recorded their first two-song demo in 1999. Their first full length release hit the shelves in 2001, put out by UK label Rage of Achilles, and a two-song, colored vinyl, 7-inch, put out by (legendary) Hydra Head records, also saw the light of day. 

Their latest offering, "Salvation" (Earache records), is a remarkable effort, worthy of the attention and praise of the most discerning lover of music's heavier tastes. Long have attempts been made to find a certain musical Philosopher's Stone--- one that could evenly blend not ONLY the (once) mutually exclusive realms of hardcore and heavy metal, but also integrate the two with a veneer of the hard, amplified rock-psychedelia of the 1960s and 1970s. The quest has been to do as much, yet without compromising any of the three, taking care to insure such distinct boundaries were fused evenly.

It would seem that Cult of Luna have evolved their sound (on "Salvation") to a level of finesse where not only as much is accomplished, but it is done so exquisitely. Taking into account the thousands of recordings I own, and the hundreds of shows I have attended, I can say with absolute certainty that Cult of Luna have clearly achieved a harmony of stylistic extremities which few bands can boast of. In terms of heavy music's ever expanding nature, its new directions, its innovations, and its collective willingness to synthesize new ideas, "Salvation" should be regarded as a novel and important release. 

The sound and delivery walk in lock step. The atmosphere waivers--- at times clean, distant, and airy; other times it plummets into a mournful, distorted avalanche of melancholic mayhem. The overall tempo never breaks past mid-rock format, but the sheer emotional weight of the songs aims to bring the heaviness over by way of measured intent. The musical metaphors employed by Cult of Luna swap razors for caresses, typhoons for crawling fog, and brainwaves for heartbeats. 

My greatest fear is that their record label will proceed to market Cult of Luna along the lines of most middle of the road metal bands--- an error which would be no less grave than if one flippantly referred to Converge as just another hardcore act, or to Godflesh as just another industrial act. 

Cult of Luna are clearly onto something that is all their own. They are an outfit which (experience tells me) will inadvertently hatch dozens of imitators, years down the road, should they hold together long enough, and without losing sight of the vision brought to light in "Salvation". 

If and when they are able to make their way to the States, once more, I know at least one American who will be there, knowing that what he is seeing and hearing is truly an underground diamond in the rough. 

Until next month�

DS 

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