The UK is the home of a bunch of awesome, and very promising, bands. If you pay enough attention, then bands like SONANCE, Light Bearer, Strangle Wank, The Nepalese Temple Ball and Iron Witch, just to name a few, are on your radar and you know that what I’m saying is the purest of truths. Opium Lord is another exciting name to join that list. And what a name…this band is fuckin’ awesome. Really! But let me explain a little better why the fuck I’m so excited about a band who have just released one EP with two songs (9 and a half minutes) on it, The Calendrical Cycle – Prologue: The Healer.
It all starts with “Heroin Swirls” and this song’s title makes all the sense in the world. How can you help yourself from thinking about swirls with that opening guitar riff? It (the riff) sucks you in to Opium Lord‘s world. Later, you will discover that there’s no way out. The huge riff will metamorphose to an even stronger and more incisive thing, it’s marvelously supported by a fantastic rhythm section who open spaces and help the atmosphere to become even more suffering and dark. Talking about suffering and dark…the vocalist is fuckin’ amazing. His voice so damn right and meant to be that it’s almost impossible. The singer purges demons with a dark hardcore approach. Amazing!
The second, and last, track of the record is a punch in the face. That’s what “Street Labs” really is. The band speeds up a little bit and once again the amazing riff is in the picture. Different from “Heroin Swirls,” but amazing too. The drumming here is fantastic. In the mid-section of the song we have moments where the purging-demons-words are supported by the drums. Who the fuck does that? It’s a fantastic detail…another one!
What can I say? The Calendrical Cycle – Prologue: The Healer is an amazing record. The amount of delicious and mesmerising details, with a huge amount of abrasive moments (the nine and a half minutes) will crumble your fuckin’ world. You can bitch about the duration of this record but… oh, fuck off! Almost ten minutes of high-quality art is better than one hour of ok art. Shut the fuck up, close your eyes and lose yourself!
The Calendrical Cycle – Prologue: The Healer is the debut from Opium Lord and is the first installment of a three part series that will span a further two full length records.
How fuckin’ amazing is that? I’m so excited to hear more stuff from this band!
The record will be released by Thirty Days Of Night Records, on 11th March.
P.S. If you have any doubts about my love for this EP, go see how many times I’ve listened to it here.
Justin Keller
March 5, 2013 at 2:03 pm
This is awesome. Good find.
Leon Alexander Geernaert
March 5, 2013 at 2:33 am
Brutal!!!