Neath the Black Veil

A short demo released in 2009, "Neath the Black Veil" presents the kind of darkly moody and atmospheric raw black metal that Lustre should be playing more of. Sharp, keenly chattering tremolo black metal guitar repetition supports an equally continuous loop of ghostly keyboard tones. A stately rhythm with a soft beat gives the track a sombre dignity. The black metal element fades in and out but the slightly faded, almost exhausted Gothic ambience carries on. A world-weary vocal - or is that just a digital-noise whisper that sounded like an inhuman voice? - wavers in the misty darkness.

It's a deep mystical and meditative world we're in but the never-ending repetition renders it banal and boring. At the end of the track, we know no more about this soundscape and what it holds than we did at the beginning. There is a feeling of indifference about the music; it soldiers on without seeming to acknowledge there are listeners following it who might be interested to know more as to what it aims to do and how it might deal or not deal with the cold emotions it refers to or invokes. The entire track sounds like an overly long and not very interesting introduction to a work that for now must remain in listeners' imaginations.