Lurk

Right off the bat I can tell you that Lurk's seven song debut is one of the most enjoyable albums submitted to us this year. And this is one of the reasons I keep doing this blog. Without it I probably wouldn't have learned this Finnish four-piece existed. Hopefully the obscurity will change to notoriety because this album is a certified banger.

Quick look into a dictionary will yield meanings that fit Lurk's profile:

To lie in wait, as in ambush
To move furtively; sneak
To exist unobserved or unsuspected
To move stealthily or be concealed, esp for evil purposes
To be present in an unobtrusive way; go unnoticed
To wait in hiding especially with a dishonest or criminal purpose

I chuckle at how perfect the name is.

"I am slow but never late" growls singer Koskinen and I immediately start assuming things. This doesn't sound a like a band made of fresh faced headbangers. This has the attributes and vibes of salty veterans that know their shit, have been in the trenches and don't give a shit about what's hot and what's not right now. But I'm projecting here. I might be wrong.

You'll hear "doom" thrown around a lot when Lurk enters the conversation. But it's not the mournful and tragic kind of doom. Rather that of the sludgy death metal variety. Lurk enters the fray knocking over tables. Like they own the damn place. Effortlessly bad ass, your surprised noggin won't know what hit it. The ass kickery is all-consuming but brought forth with sludge, dirt, dirge and all around shittyness (I mean that in the best way possible). It'll make you grind your teeth. It will make a recovering alcoholic drink again and drink hard. It will make non-smokers want to fill their lungs with rancid, damaging filth. You are having an out of body moment looking at yourself covered in vomit, headbanging with beer drenched hair as your significant other slams the doors and yells at you that you and her/he are over.
Don't go thinking Lurk is a sloppy mess though. They know what they are doing. The album plods along at various paces of slow to slowish, loose and tight at the same time. It's fucked and beautiful.

These guys are not reinventing the wheel. Familiar echos of this and that abound without sounding like they are riding anyone's back. There are peculiar moments of pre-Icon Paradise Lost. You wouldn't think it but in my head Lurk's sneaky nuances conjure memories of West Yorkshire's party poopers. Furthermore I find myself thinking about Asphyx at their slowest and Entombed at their bakediest (you read this word here first).
Koskinen sounds like LG Petrov at his best but with bigger range. This range adds dimensions to the arrangements of the music itself. It lends itself to its simplicity. And when you think you have the vocals figured out he'll add a scream, growl, shriek or gurgle sounds different to what he did before. It's fucked, shitty and awesome.

A bona-fide hit, "Fire The Blood Sky" will reel in new followers. Beat-downy doom crushes you in "Pitch Beneath Eternity." A song that features delightfully putrid vocal lines that you've gotta hear . "Off duty destruction!" vomit two voices of the swamps. Destruction? Indeed it is. Indeed it fucking is. You don't want to be in Finland's dark and forsaken forest marshes. Scratch that. I do want it. You should.
Recommended.
- Birkir Fjalar

Originally published on http://halifaxcollect.blogspot.com, 20th April 2012