"On Hooks to Pieces!" (На крючья да в клочья!)

Lucifugum is quite the enigma. The band has gone through a number of different phases, be it their really raw demos, their early symphonic work, their heavier, thrashier mid-discography work, and more recently, their extremely raw, anti-human approach. On Hooks to Pieces showcases Lucifugum's symphonic side more so than their previous few releases and acts very differently in general. Their previous album, On the Sortilage of Christianity, was known for being a good mixture of evil, but triumphant sounding black metal thanks to its symphonic style. You can bet it was pretty feral sounding. It seems that Lucifugum focuses much more on the triumphant side and any hints of hateful, evil sounding black metal is minimized. Instead, there's a great deal of similarity between those corny folk or power metal bands that usually have lyrics about glorified ancient battles. While the members of Lucifugum don't use any of those folk instruments (instead having mostly synthesizers), much of that cheesiness is still there.

Yes, On Hooks to Pieces is really cheesy, but I still find it to be a pretty good album. Despite the significant differences between other Lucifugum albums, there actually aren't too many surprises here that could lead to disappointment. Faunus still has that high pitched, shrieky voice that is a bit cartoonish, but always a good fit for Lucifugum. Bal-a-myth's guitarwork is even better this time around. I think that has to do with the improved production. The riffs aren't particularly memorable, but do their part in making the music a bit more intense, which works well with the keyboards. Another positive about this album is how easily I can hear the bass a lot of the times. You still have to focus well, but if you listen, you shall find it. Sometimes it's merely a foundational role like in the third track, but other times, it can give certain songs a bit more character. An example would be in the sixth track. This track has a really cheesey opening that mimics a rock n roll style, but be that as it may, the bass work really gives the song a bit more zest. Lastly, the keyboards are all over the place - you can't avoid them even if you wanted to. Fortunately, there's a great deal of variation within tracks. Don't expect a level of skill or atmosphere found in some Arcturus or Limbonic Art songs, but they symphonic parts do make the songs very entertaining. This is a good because a few of these songs are a bit long to begin with.

On Hooks to Pieces is mostly a triumphant sounding album, but the theme does vary throughout. As I said earlier, some songs are really rock and roll influenced, while other tracks remind me of a battle taking place. (I urge anyone to check out the video they made for the third track - it's awesome and hilarious at the same time!). Some tracks, like the last one, are extremely melodic and catchy. That track is only an instrumental, but it does well to create a dark, solemn atmosphere that is still catchy, but greatly contrasts with other songs on the album. There is even some accoustic guitar work and that's always a crowd pleaser (unless it starts getting pretentious).

If you ever wondered what Carpathian Forest would sound like if they wanted to make triumphant symphonic black metal, On Hooks to Pieces might be the answer. It's barely similar to other Lucifugum albums, but it does seem to offer a lot that you couldn't find in the rest of their discography. If you can get past the overly cheesy symphonic bits and occasionally laggy track, On Hooks to Pieces is a damn interesting album.

It's about at this point where Lucifugum begins to make the shift from conventional (if extraordinarily well composed) Slavic symphonic black metal into something weirder and more unique. The vast majority of Lucifugum's material has little to do with the symphonic black metal of their early days, but at the same time those are the only works which receive significant attention from the black metal scene at large. This is a shame, because later Lucifugum material certainly packs music that can rival even works like 'On The Sortilage Of Christianity' in magnificence, albeit in a very, very different form. 'On Hooks To Pieces!' is a well-composed but still transitional album which forms a neat bridge between the first era of the band and the next, and is a crucial release to obtain for those who want to obtain a full understanding of the way this enduring project's music changed shape over the years.

The first couple tracks don't necessarily point to anything amiss from what's expected; they're heavily symphonic works that are on par with the material on 'On The Sortilage Of Christianity', with winding and elaborate melodies and cleverly twisting song structures right out of the 'Goat Horns' book. After that, though, things get a little weirder, with the symphonic elements occasionally disappearing entirely from the tracks, leaving only a more intense and thrashing riff style and the venomous vocals and drum machine to carry the works. A lot of symphonic black metal bands tend to become lackluster when the synths aren't right there (see 'To The Gates Of Blasphemous Fire'), but Lucifugum seems to handle the synthless tracks without trouble; indeed, some of the straight black metal tracks on this album are actually the best, and when the synths reappear later on the album, they seem more like an intrusion than a welcome return to form.

The overall sound of the non-symphonic tracks would be somewhat like Dub Buk circa 'Rus Ponad Vse!' but with a less intensely militaristic and thrashy approach. As opposed to that album's unique blending of black and thrash metal, this is certainly closer to the typical varieties of raw Ukrainian black metal, occasionally reminding me of earlier Legion Of Doom works in delivery, though without the pronounced influence of traditional heavy metal. Even during the symphonic tracks (which make up about half the album), the guitars are a much bigger force than they were on the previous full-length, with more complex and articulate riffing as well as a greater presence in the album's soundstream by way of production. Far from being endless processions of tremolo, the riffs are often very rhythmic in nature, occasionally bursting into a sort of synth-driven thrash breakdown, which, though bizarre sounding, actually works extremely well.

I would almost characterize this album as 'To The Gates Of Blasphemous Fire' done right; it manages to take that album's fusion of Ukrainian symph black and more traditional varieties of the genre and remove the more stagnant passages, making for a much more exciting and during work which never slows down even when the tempo drops. The riffs are consistently interesting if not perfectly memorable, and the fairly intelligent drum programming and slightly degraded but still representative production rounds out the album, making it a very solid work in Lucifugum's catalog. This isn't necessarily the band's best work, but it's still quite strong for dealing with a stylistic combination that has been known to fail in the past. 'On Hooks To Pieces' is a very good black metal album, and while it's not the first Lucifugum work I would recommend, it's certainly worth investigation from melodic black metal fans.

Lucifugum is not to be confused with the Spanish band of the same name. According to the Bio, which was daringly written in English by an illiterate Frenchman it seems, this band is the ultimate Kult group from Ukraine that been playing Black Metal since 1995 and of course very “True” at it. For a change they decided to give me a complete booklet with lyrics and credits with the small problem that it’s all in Ukrainian with no added translations. Very True I’m sure, but entirely indiscernible. On with the music shall we?

The band makes a hybrid of Raw Black Metal and Atmospheric parts. In fact, the two bands that came to mind are Carpathian Forest and “Principle..” era Cradle of Filth. That last comparison in no doubt caused by the use of keyboards since the riffs are more in the vein of the cold Black Metal created by bands such as Carpathian Forest in the nineties. Quite a lot of up-tempo beats and riffs. Not very original but not necessarily bad either. The production is one of two big downers of this album. The guitar, bass and drums are all a bit weak in the mix and the keyboards way too prominent. This results in a sound that never really sparks. With a harsher and colder sound this album would have been a lot better. Furthermore the songs are a bit too long and feel kind of stretched. I am a big fan of the kind of Black Metal where riffs are droned over and over for minutes at a time but it is a bonus when those riffs have something special that sweeps you of your feet and take you on a journey into the music. Lucifugum’s riffs don’t have that quality and the songs suffer for it by being too long and feeling somewhat redundant.

(This review was originally written for http://www.lordsofmetal.nl and is republished with kind permission of the webmaster)