Lycus - Chasms

By Justin C. If you find funeral doom to be a bit too languid at times, Lycus has the solution to your problems. Their new album, Chasms, is a particularly intense kind of melancholy. Sure, there are the clean chant-like vocals, as found on their last outing,

By Justin C.

Artwork by Paolo Girardi

If you find funeral doom to be a bit too languid at times, Lycus has the solution to your problems. Their new album, Chasms, is a particularly intense kind of melancholy. Sure, there are the clean chant-like vocals, as found on their last outing, Tempest, but there are also growls and blackened rasps. There are plenty of slow-and-low riffs, but there are also high-flying tremolos. There are plenty of drums that sound like a cliffside collapsing, but there are pulsing rhythms and frantic blasts as well. And you'll usually find all of these over the course of any given song.

Lycus 2014. Photo by Carmelo Española.

Listening to Chasms back to back with 2013's Tempest reveals that the band hasn't abandoned any of their strengths or drastically changed their approach, but the song complexity and atmosphere have both been ratcheted up. The opener of "Mirage" is like the soundtrack to a late night drive in a big city, but before the two-minute mark, that car is slowly coasting off the end of a pier. While on fire. "Obsidian Eyes" has some great overlapping guitar lines that almost seem like they're shifting in and out of phase with each other. The ringing guitar and the subtly shifting drums in the opener to the title track would be interesting enough on their own, but they're joined by a cello winding a melody over them. There's an almost-symphonic feel to the compositions, but with all the discordance and crushing heft you need from metal.

Lycus 2014. Photo by Carmelo Española.

I went through a bit of an evolution listening to this album. The monumental heaviness and emotional punch drew me in immediately. I did find myself missing some of the melodic hooks from Tempest that stuck so easily in my ear, but the shifts and complexities in Chasms dig into your brain in a different way. It crawls like funeral doom, but it's restless and ever-changing in a way that might not be apparent on first listen. I find myself wanting to point out all the intricacies that have caught my ear, but you'd be better off discovering those for yourself. 2016 is going to have to be a hell of a good year for funeral doom for anybody to top this one.

Lycus - Tempest

Review by Justin C.

Artwork by Paolo Girardi

After releasing a very well received demo in 2011, Lycus is back with their first full length, Tempest. It's an interesting title choice. A black metal or grind album might be better named after a violent wind storm, but on the other hand, the Shakespeare play of the same name features themes of exile, deformed monsters, shipwrecks, and the occult, which would be well accompanied by a soundtrack of funeral doom.

Lycus draws on some of the same strengths they used in their demo. The low, growling vocals that are a hallmark of funeral doom are joined by a cleanly sung, chant-like baritone. That isn't the only twist Lycus throws us, though: They also mix in bursts of black metal. At about the 7-minute mark in the opener "Coma Burn," we get a maelstrom of blast beats and tremolo guitar lines that passes almost as quickly as it begins. Two of the tracks also feature the excellent violin work of Christa Schmidt. Electronic effects made to sound like symphonic instruments can add a cool bit of atmosphere, but there's no mistaking the real thing and the textures it can add.

If your songs move at a geologically slow pace, you can't hide a lack of songwriting chops behind blazes of technicality, and Lycus has the songs. They're based less on striking riffs that jump right out at you (although the descending guitar line that runs throughout "Coma Burn" does haunt my dreams) and more on atmosphere, movement, and complexity. "Engravings" is the short track here at just under 10 minutes, but the songs don't bore; they envelop you. This is aided a lot by the production, which does an excellent job of letting the guitar, bass, and drums all occupy their own space.

I did have a moment of hesitation with the outro to the album closer, "Tempest." The song comes to a fairly well-defined end at about 12 minutes in, but the final 8 minutes are a wash of ambient and electronic sounds with a hint of feedback. I'll be honest--it annoyed me on first listen. I've found it more hypnotic after repeated listens, although I suspect the effect would be more enhanced by ingesting various substances.

Ultimately, though, I’ve always maintained that the best music has to be compelling regardless of one’s chemical state, and I think this album does. I suspect that there’s a decent overlap between ambient/drone fans and doom fans, so the extended outro is unlikely to bother most people who would be interested in this, and even if you hit “stop” a little early, this album has no shortage of excellent doom.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Lycus - Demo MMXI (Remastered)

Artwork by Bryan Proteau

Lycus demo was heralded as one of the best doom albums of 2011. Check out Kim Kelly's list here and my own from No Clean Singing, where I wrote a few lines about my favorite track on the demo, "Aghast":

"Mournful choral vocal lines accompany the traditional death metal vocals and crashing riffs. And that fantastic fast section as the track goes from stately to pummeling. Cathartic."

In preparation for an upcoming vinyl release, Flenser Records has added the remastered demo to their Bandcamp as a free download, including new artwork by Bryan Proteau.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Lycus - Demo 2011

Lycus was mentioned in an interview with Loss at That's How kids Die. Cvlt Nation succinctly (and correctly) said "This is heavy. This is slow. This is doom". My favorite track is "Aghast" with it's crashing riffs and a fantastic

Artwork by Bryan Proteau.

Lycus was mentioned in an interview with Loss at That's How kids Die. Cvlt Nation succinctly (and correctly) said "This is heavy. This is slow. This is doom". My favorite track is "Aghast" with it's crashing riffs and a fantastic fast section. Listen to it, and the rest of the demo, below.