Oniric Metal

My journey through the progressive metal soundscapes brings me to France and a certain special outfit named Lalu, brought to us by the inspirational Vivien Lalu, who takes control of a number of elements. Previous to searching for bands my other half may enjoy, in terms of metal bands and being recommended Lalu in my own personal search for the best that this genre, progressive metal, had to offer, I had never heard of Lalu. They were as foreign to me as the French language is, unfortunately. Previous experience with progressive genres, in all fields, is generally poor. I was never a fan as a youngster, being somewhat of a black metal elitist. As my years have advances, so have my tastes and my mentality towards bands such as this. On first glance, music like this would have turned me off in much the same way bestiality does, but since then, music of this nature has started to appeal to me. Thankfully, bestiality hasn’t. ‘Oniric Metal’ has developed in me a fervent admiration of music of this nature, expressing without hyperbolic language just how much this record means to me.

‘Oniric Metal’ is truly a class apart from the rest the genre has to offer. Since my journey began through the metal realms of both excitement and wonder, Lalu are perhaps one of the best finds I’ve made, or even been introduced to. It’s experimental nature, or seemingly experimental ways (since my depressing lack of knowledge means I don’t actually know if this sort of music is usually created in this specific sort of way) is so endearing, if not a little cheesy (see ‘Windy’ for an example of such cheese). Despite the cheese-factor, which Lalu seem to thrive on and even make me, the most fussy person in the world enjoy it. There are also a number of surprising twists and turns along the way, keeping the record and it’s inspiring compositions from becoming dull and dreary. This is done by the inclusion of such instruments as keyboards, which Vivien Lalu performs spectacularly on, leads to an exciting mix of instrumentation. The production is also brilliant, giving the swelling beauty of the soundscapes a clean sound, but also offering a hard edge when needed. This hard edge is primarily created by the guitars and percussion performance, which can often resort to lots of controlled double bass and deep rhythmic beats that have every one of us nodding along in agreement to those inexplicably immense guitars, keyboards and vocals! There is also an interesting context of emotions, which varies from song to song.

I was astonished to find out that Lalu only employ one single guitarist to control the direction of the music, which is played at varying speeds and with complimented by different aspects of instrumentation, this ultimately leads to highlighting Joop Wolters performance even more as it is fantastic, despite the fact that session guitarists have been used on the record. The guitar leads are imperative to the sound of Lalu, but the best aspect of Lalu’s game is the fact that they can easily control the direction, dimension and dynamics of their music with simplistic ease and sweet melancholy displayed in songs like ‘Windy’ with it’s heart warming message, if not a little too heart warming. The vocals, in particular, have the ability to provide emotion all by themselves, despite the fact that the instrumentation, especially the keyboards, can do that brilliantly themselves too. The vocals are perhaps typical of progressive metal, but what’s wrong with that? They’re well performed, very controlled and direct the instrumentation well, bouncing off it with luscious textures and tones. ‘Oniric Metal’ doesn’t allow complex compositions move them, or even make them break out in to a sweat.

His performance, Joop Wolters, is overshadowed, and not in a bad way, by that of Vivien Lalu though. His use of often symphonic keyboards compliment the array of varying guitar leads well, as well as completing the contagious experimental sound which plagues the record in the best possible way, infecting us all with it’s catchy sound, particularly on songs like ‘Yesterday Man’ and the enormous epic, ‘Timestop’ with it’s fantastically catchy guitar leads and foundation building bass lines. Musicianship of the highest order is what this French act manage to delight us all with. The music is well written with it‘s infectious melodies, includes several tight performances and is also dynamic to the point of being immensely creative and innovation for it’s genre. Lyrically, I’m quite fond of Lalu, especially on the epic of ‘Timestop’ which explores, like the instrumentation, some interesting ideas which I rather enjoyed.

“What is life
Without the streaming of time?
Could it be that
Without time the journey of life won't end?

When time stands still
Death shall be no more
When time stands still
Could we live forever?”

A must for all progressive fans and those looking to see what progressive metal is all about.

These guys have stayed under my radar for a long time, but now I have discovered them, and what the hell does Prog mean anymore, anyway? Rattling guitars, a sleek production, some layered vocals and some melody-infested solo sections that go on for a few minutes before traipsing into some stop-and-go riffs and space atmospherics? Well, if so, then Lalu are well worthy of the ringing endorsements they never seem to get.

Don't take this as an insult to the band; it is rather...a mere observation on the state of things in the Prog world. There really is something different about these guys. Sure, they sound like Pagan's Mind and Circus Maximus and Anubis Gate, too, but there's something different here. I don't really know what it is. It just sounds like an inspired band making inspired music, and the day I don't appreciate something like that is the day I quit reviewing. Lalu are basically the brainchild of Viven Lalu, French keyboard prodigy and mastermind of several different projects, and you'll have a field day trying to find this shit. No Myspace, their label page doesn't seem to work, et cetera, et cetera.

But it is good. Mark my word on that. "Yesterdayman," "Wolven Eyes," "Windy" and "Nights of Poenari" are all kicking, introspective Prog monoliths flourished with Joop Wolters' impressive but not excessive guitar work, Ryan Van Poederooyen's acrobatic drums, Viven Lalu's exquisite keys and Martin Lemar's vocals - the man sounds quite magical here, sort of like Jacob Hansen of Anubis Gate except with a slightly lower pitch and a more menacing tone when he really gets angry. This band really is something special, with each song being a testament to rock-solid Prog loyalty and also to stunning individuality - a complex if there ever was one. "Moonstruck" and "Starwatcher" are also good, with doomier riffs and heavier synth abuse, very spacey and introspective tunes, and "Timestop" might just be the best song on here, with its dynamic, grandiose mood and masterful vocal performance. Even "Pot Boy: The Final Fantasy," despite going on for way too long, has its charms, boasting a queer comfortable nature about it, and also being a good summation of the album's charms, in the grand scheme of things.

This album flows like the white water rapids, and it doesn't even take a lot of work to get into. Lalu may never be the most widely known band, for whatever terrible reason, but Oniric Metal is something special. This is a really weird predicament, as it is not particularly groundbreaking, and yet somehow, in some strange, oxymoronic twist, it is. I mean, I can't even really tell you why. It just is. Listen to it. Lalu are a healthy balance to this reviewer's everyday breakfast, and they will be to yours, too.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

My, oh my! What have we here ladies and gentlemen? Excellent progressive metal in the vein of Platitude and Stride, that's what. Vivien Lalu brings to the table nearly an hour's worth of exciting, fresh and never boring compositions that are filled with wonder and emotion. I'll admit I'm not very much into French metal bands, mostly becuase I haven't found many of high quality. Lalu is VERY high quality! The riffs are never lacking and the melodies are always interesting. The vocal performance delivered by Martin LeMar is definitely my second favorite quality of this record, next to the actual genius composition style of viven Lalu. LeMar has such a beautiful clean vocal style, and can belt most powerful screams just as good as anyone else.

Viven Lalu uses his keyboard skills to their full potential, layering many melodies and rhythmic devices to propel the music always to a new and interesting direction. The structure is still very important, and does not meander to the point of no songs being memorable. In fact there are a few recurring themes used throughout the album in such a tasteful manner that I can not help but to admire at the masterful usage of these motifs.

The guitars are played very well, always in time and in key. I absolutely love the heavy yet clean tone of the distortion, a trademark of the given style of music. The guitar is used in a variety of ways, sometimes to fill out the music with arpeggiated chords, sometimes to play a very clean counterpoint melody to the vocals, and most of the time to play very catchy and interesting riffs.

The album starts off with the song "Yesterdayman", which is in the first person perspective of a man who has left society due to the problems of today's world, specifically noting discrimination and hatred toward's others for differences. Seems like a typical political theme to base the song around, but it is executed in a tasteful way. The track begins with a heavy downtuned powerchord and a plucked harp, setting an enigmatic tone for what's to come, but then the pace picks up with some faster riffs and percussion, until finally settling back into a cleaner guitar and smooth vocals.

Next is "Wolven Eyes", one of my favorites from the album. There is probably a deeper meaning behind this song but from what I gather on the superficial level, it is about a person getting in touch with their animal side. I just love when Martin sings "And in the end you'll see Darwin was right! We've got more of an animal than Wolven eyes!" This track is just full of memorable melodies, and a great, soothign atmosphere created by the guitar and bell synth keyboards. Absolutely stunning

Overall, "Oniric Metal" is full from beginning to end of great music, absolutely no filler and not one dull moment. The musical ideals are plenty and the direction is always moving and resolving to something fresh and intersting. A huge recommend!