The Supreme Art of Genocide

This was a shocker, especially considering the text put on the back of the album. “We don’t play, we attack by antihuman poisonous black metal!” Slogans like that usually make me think of a bunch of drunken idiots making shitty bedroom black metal, however Lucifugum play a much different brand of black metal.

My usual black metal rotation consists of such bands as Aborym, Graveland, Deathspell Omega and several other obscure underground groups so the raw melodic nature of this album was a nice change. The sound takes several influences from Abigor and to some extent Darkthrone (early).

The guitars blaze through the entire album producing a very consistent melody. This becomes trance inducing after a while, until the albums ending. There are a few bass lines located throughout several of the song, and the instrument is surprisingly existent.

All the lyrics are in Russian, or a similar such language so after awhile the subject matter becomes meaningless (unless you know the language). The vocals are pretty consistent throughout the entire album, with minimal effects (some of the vocal tracks echo).

You can tell that the drums are obviously programmed, however the production balances this. There mixed lower than the guitars, so there used mainly as a timing device. While not consistent blasting the drum patterns are not really something special.

I like the production on here, seriously it isn’t the usual underground bedroom non-existent production that seems to plague almost every other black metal I own (or have once owned). He sound is very clean but at the same time the raw sound atmosphere is still present, similar to the Marduk album World Funeral.

If you get the CD you also get a bonus video. This isn’t some shitty live performance, it is a very well produced black metal video, showcasing some kind of occult ritual. The only problem I have with it is the outdated church burning footage they used for a couple clips, there footage was obviously outdated and would have benefitted from some kind of restoration.

Fans of Darkthrone would find a lot to get into on this album. If you can make yourself look past the underground gimmicks (especially the made up word “unhuman”) you can really see the top quality of this album. I know ill be shelling out more of my money for there material in the near future.