One of the big surprises of this year is certainly the self titled debut album by Lychgate, a “super group” formed by the most amazing of lineups: Greg Chandler (Esoteric), Aran (Lunar Aurora, Trist), Tom Vallely (Omega Centauri) and Vortigern (The One, Archaicus). With such amazing and skilled musicians behind Lychgate, the result could only be something marvelously arcane. Founded by Vortigern, Lychgate was a natural evolution that occurred over time from his project Archaicus, and despite having a new shape it’s still very audible the influences of the band-root’s sound in Lychgate. But this influence is not only restricted to Archaicus, throughout the album, there are delightful details that bring to my mind similarities from the music from where these mysterious alchemists come from. So what can you expect with this album? “Lychgate” blends the most esoteric side of doom metal mixed with some pieces of progressive death metal with the most melodic side of black metal, that along the album, is constantly showing its agressive facet, resulting in a very avant garde, atmospheric, mystic and almost cinematic kind of black metal.
One interesting aspect in the making of “Lychgate” was that it was created without the aid of programming. All instrumentation was performed and recorded without edits, a factor that gives even more credit to the talented and skilled musicians presented here. In fact that’s the way I like it done: without artifices. Just clean, well performed, honest and brilliant music coming straight from the (dark) soul. Recorded at Eidola Studios and Priory Studios between April and August of last year, “Lychgate” was mixed and mastered by Greg Chandler at Priory Studios and features an amazing cover artwork by Manuel Tinnemans that truly captures the mystery and the whole essence of this album.
Now, before we head-dive into “Lychgate” I must confess that before receiving this album, in the last couple of weeks before I’d been revisiting a lot to Emperor’s masterpiece “Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk” and after a first audition to “Lychgate”, you might call me crazy, I immediately knew that I was facing another album of as great and epic proportions as Emperor’s masterpiece. As a matter of fact, if Lychgate had emerged in the 90’s they would certainly have as its direct rival the Norwegian band. The entire structure of the tracks, which balances melody with aggression perfectly, and the sound exhaled really has that kind of sound that makes me travel back in time. Their music really captures and embodies that pure 90’s aura all over.
Opening with the intro “The Inception” the veil is lifted abruptly as we stand at the edge of this dark, deep well of souls. As we look down, and watch with fear into the darkness that is about to swallow us, we take a long deep breath of air and head dive into it not knowing what we’re about to face. This intro track really sets the tone being the perfect welcome card for the album. Right after that “Resentment” comes dyed in shades of black haunted by that daunting pipe organ that fuses wonderfully with the rest of the instruments, creating an absolute and total gloomy atmosphere. It’s kind of a symphonic black metal, but in a more dreary way. Do not expect to apply the tag “symphonic black metal” that really sticks into bands like Satyricon or Behemoth here. No. This is totally on another level. The constant use of the pipe organ is in fact one of the elements that stands out about this album, giving an astounding character to the tracks, enhancing them into a brutal dimension that sucks us even deeper into this pit of lost souls.
Greg’s voice wanders constantly through the territories of black and doom metal, and fits perfectly in this recording like a glove, distributing blood curdling screams and cavernous growls. The guitar work is also superb, giving us some incredible notes that swirl and surround us completely, dragging us into surreal universes or it can also ravish us, throwing us to the ground with ferocious and sharp riffs. The detail of blending acoustic segments in the middle of this black metal vortex isn’t anything new but in this recording it fits and works perfectly and flawlessly. But in the midst of this malicious orchestra, what really grabs my atenttion is the work of Tom Vallely. In his natural habitat, the drums. Tom (as the rest as his fellow alchemist mages) seems even more dedicated and determined here, giving us all of these amazing details into the tracks to which we are even afraid to blink in order to not miss one millisecond of their performance. I had to pick up my jaw from the floor many times while playing this album. Brutal. Lychgate works in the most perfect and harmonious way. Albums of this caliber are a rare and unique piece nowadays. When we think that everything has been created, reinterpreted, replicated, etc, we are unexpectedly caught by an album like this.
Tracks like “Against the Paradoxical Guild” that starts with classic riffs pretty much à la Emperor, and that soon unfold into twisted contours intoxicated by the evident madness in Greg’s vocal work. An authentic spiral filled with surreal details into which we increasingly fall deeper. Or the insurgent “In Self Ruin” that begins with the most imposing cacophony, leading my mind to imagine almost a scene from “Phantom of the Opera” but in a more twisted and darker version. The drum suddenly unloads all its fury that shapes into a storm of blastbeats while totally frantic riffs increase the malicious flood of black metal. It’s the constant twists between malice and melody, creating a climate of passage among the most aggressive and melodic sections within the tracks. “Sceptre to Control the World” is another one of those amazing pillars that elevates this álbum to epic proportions where that flawless balance between Light and Darkness is perfectly constructed among black and doom metal overtones.
In the middle of the album, the band throws in an interlude right before another relentless storm of black metal riffs and blasbeats, falling upon us with “Triumphalism” a track that brings to my mind several details of Omega Centauri or even Archaicus, in which Greg’s voice unleashes daunting and shrieking screams before being possessed by the spectre of doom metal. “Dust of a Gun Barrel” introduces us to a more a haunting and mysterious atmosphere, which constantly draws from the most slow/mid-tempo doom-ish paces sections accelerating to sections where the band creates unpredictable conjunctions with acoustic elements that bring another aura to the track.
The album closes with “When Scorn Can Scourge No More” a far more melodic track than the ones we’ve heard previously, where the guitars throw captivating notes into the air, creating an almost etheral atmosphere that ends up intoxicating us through all of this mysticism hovering in the air, only interrupted by the malicious voice that loses its last blood-chilling screams before fading into darkness. Although we can look at this track from a more melodic point of view, it never loses that malicious character behind it, almost as an enigmatic mask covers the horrors that hide behind it.
With this amazing self-titled album, Lychgate have created a formula, and although not new, it is indeed unique and something they can call their own. Allying their creativity to their great know-how, together these alchemists, who share between them their old and most obscured recipes, have managed to provide us with a very surreal and mystical album. Every track, every performance, every detail is simply beautiful. It has all the contours of a perfect masterpiece. One for most amazing albums of this decade. What a wonderful journey.
“Lychgate” is already available on CD through U.K. label Mordgrimm. Or if you prefer vinyl, you can jump to Gilead Media store. More information about Lychgate can be found at their website or Facebook page.
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