click to enlarge - Courtesy
- Lightcrusher, Forever but Never Named
(Born For Burning Productions, CD, digital)
The ghost of a murdered man gazes down on his broken body and ruined farm. His wife murdered, his flock slaughtered by men with "fouled hearts and hungry eyes," the vengeful wraith has risen from the grave with a black hole for a face. Slowly, with a terrible inevitability, the specter pursues his killers across the frozen winter lands.
Pardon my French, but that is metal as fuck — as it should be. The spoken-word lyrics of the first cut launch Forever but Never Named, a concept album from Montpelier extreme metal band Lightcrusher. Over the next hour of bruising, dark music, the band follows the ghost's quest for vengeance, the story playing out from track to track.
The first track, "Steward's Lament," sets the stage. Dissonant, rickety guitar, played to resemble a detuned piano, lays down a foundation of ever-building suspense. Vocalist M. Schrift unravels the story; at times he's as detached as a somnambulist, but he becomes increasingly unhinged as the song progresses.
"Coursing Through Black Veins of Earth" kicks off the pummeling phase of the record, the band's second LP after 2018's Constructing Stairs of Mortared Bone. Harmonized guitars crest like some malevolent rogue wave as Schrift all but invokes a curse.
"Within all things that walk or crawl or hold to earth with rooted claw / My spirit fills the cracks betwixt with cold intent of winter's kiss."
Winter plays a big part in the album's story. In an email, guitarist Aaron Sørensen wrote that the themes of desperation and insanity were inspired by Vermont's "beautiful, yet isolated surroundings."
Sørensen formed the group in 2010, combining the slowed-down, dirgelike heaviness of death-doom with the savage attack of black metal. Some might consider two full-length records in 11 years a poor return, but it's best to compare Lightcrusher records to fantasy novels. Like most good fantasy writers, the band needs time to world build and construct its multilayered, grim epics.
Schrift's lyrics on Forever but Never Named paint a bleak picture for the undead protagonist, as well as the killers he hunts. "Soldier's Lament" shifts from distorted shrieks back to the monologue-like delivery of the opening track. Schrift embodies the voice of an old soldier, full of regret and blame and reminiscing about home.
It can be difficult to present a fully formed concept album. A key factor in success is committing to the scope of the task. A band has to follow through, or it just ends up with bloat. Lightcrusher are more than game, however, treating their record like a sprawling poem of horror, full of characters and dynamic shifts.
"Of a Dark and Terrible Thing Once Forgotten" closes the hour-plus album. Spoiler alert: It doesn't go well for the fleeing murderers — a fitting end to a bleak yet vibrant story.
Download Forever but Never Named at lightcrusher.bandcamp.com, or order the CD from bornforburning.bigcartel.com.