Towards the Abyss of Disease

As I’ve pointed out before, there are certain scenes which have certain overriding sounds in a number of countries dotted all over the world, but particularly across Europe. France is known for raw black metal, Scandinavia for traditional black metal, Greece for her warm Hellenic side shown through bands like Necromantia and Rotting Christ and so on and so forth. Italy, though she is never really spoken of in terms of having a dominating theme within the country, seems to be developing one through bands like Absentia Lunae, Melencolia Estatica and this band, Lorn. Some might say that Italy was once a nation full of symphonic black metal acts, those with a gothic influence or one’s who were merely trying recreate the frozen hymns of the second wave from Scandinavia but ultimately failing to do so. Italy’s scene is mostly viewed as defective. When you think of all the best black metal bands to have come out of Europe, hardly any Italian acts come instantly to mind. In fact, it’s possible that when asked on the spot to think of notable Italian bands of the past, I might just forget that any even existed beyond the year 2000.

Since the turn of the century, Italy has seen a renaissance in the black metal genre with more bands looking to come forward and challenge perceptions on the scene within the country. Lorn, like Absentia Lunae, a band that this act remind me somewhat of, are willing and able to join the small factions of acts who have banded together to create a united front against all who say Italian black metal lacks potency and power. Eerie Art Records have done a tremendous job of picking out the best obscure talents from around the world with bands like Common Grave, a fellow Italian band, Britain’s unusual Self-Inflicted Violence and, last but not least, Sweden’s Waning. Given the range of musical standards between these four bands, Eerie Art are forging a reputation of being somewhat eclectic with their management of sounds. None of the aforementioned acts sound alike and there appears to be no discernable trace that the label are supporting one side of black metal. Lorn are the only band in that list who play a more conventional style of black metal, in actual fact.

This debut, entitled ‘Towards the Abyss of Disease’, is somewhat different to the majority of bands operating within Italy these days. As I previously said, this album is far more standardised than a lot of the other bands around at the moment. However, although you could call this approach rather formulaic, it is by no means dull. I’d imagine this album could possibly appeal to a large number of fans -- those who like the old-school style, those who prefer straight-forward, no-nonsense black metal and even those accustomed to a more melodic style of music because, much to my surprise, this album is just one catchy hook after another. That is until ‘Hypnotic Snowfall’ interrupts the balance of play by introducing an entirely instrumental song into the fray when it just wasn’t called for. The song doesn’t fit into the scheme of things well and is a real low point of the album. In fact, it’s the only true song that doesn’t eventually live up to the standards of the band, which is to be as catchy as possible, whilst maintaining that early feel of frostbitten atmospherics and a blizzard-esque wall-of-sound between the musicians and the listener.

I don’t feel the instrumental song was warranted, although it does keep up appearances to some degree by maintaining a repetitive sound, conjuring up more wintry images through the desolate instrumentation. The vocals on the album aren’t entirely typical of the influential second wave vocalists. The vocals here are lower shrieks, with a slightly growled feeling to them. They’re often placed alongside the guitars to enhance that bombastic feel the production brings to the album. Even the instrumentation song, which is played at a much slower pace, feels mighty through the use of distortion and the bombastic qualities within the production. Given these important factors, I had originally expected the bass to be a buried element, but it isn’t. It quickly becomes an asset to Lorn like it does for bands such as Absentia Lunae who have the magnificent Climaxia performing on bass. As with her style, though the bass here is low-lying, it is always audible and isn’t just a figment of the imagination. I wouldn’t call the bassist as experimental, or talented as Climaxia, especially when she performs for Melencolia Estatica.

His performance is duly noted for being able to bolster the guitar approach, which is extremely heavy and, as stated on several occasions, generally very infectious, particularly on songs like the opening track, which is one of the catchiest black metal anthems I’ve ever heard and ‘Through Artery of Ice’, particularly towards the end of the song where the riffs really dig in and grab hold of the listener after they’ve slowed down and picked back up again. However, in regards to the bass, the performance does become more individualistic towards the end of the album with ‘Raetia’ being a particularly strong track for the bass, especially towards the middle of the song where the bass breaks away from being a back-up to the guitar. The pace of the album is usually mid-tempo, though the drumming remains consistently fast with double bass blasts and snapping cymbals really constricting the listener through the atmosphere. Due to the fact that the album tends to meld into one long movement, before ‘Hypnotic Snowfall’ tampers with things, there isn’t much in the way of experimentation. This all feels a lot like a second wave creation, but it’s insanely catchy for the most part and still strong regardless.