LANTERN - Below (2013)

Genre: Death metal

Label: Dark Descent Records

Rating: 7/10

I didn't know who Lantern were before perusing Dark Descent's Bandcamp, I must confess. I am glad that I discovered them. This is some well-executed death metal, featuring a killer, traditional death metal production and sound.

The opening riffs to "Rites of Descent" are very interesting, and then it gets down to business, plumbing the depths. There is a lead which sounds psychotic, consisting of trills, that is then followed by a lead played high up on the neck that ends in a tremolo bridge drop. There's a quick, tasteful solo thrown in there. After some more lower-string dwelling, another tasteful solo is thrown in there. Next up is the song "Revenant." The first real highlight of this song is the chorus, in which there is a great solo. Around 4:08 the riff gets pretty memorable.

The third song, "Entrenching Presences," features some really killer manipulation of the guitar, followed by a guitar solo, and then more riffing around. It takes until the halfway point, however, to get truly memorable, with a huge, descending chord progression, with implied dissonance. There's some pretty wild soloing around the 5:30 mark. "Manifesting Shambolic Aura" may be the best song on the album. Riffs that actually get stuck in your head, all-around fucking sweet death metal. The lead at about 2:25 in "Demons in My Room" is a particularly memorable lead. This is a surprisingly slow song for death metal. Slow and emphatically evil. The title track is actually a slow instrumental. It is followed by the seventh and last track, "From the Ruins," which is a frenetic song that starts off with hyperblasting and tremolo picking aplenty. It abruptly slows down in the verse. This is definitely the darkest song on the album. The section at 6:49 is particularly of note.

Admittedly, death metal is not really my bag. I bought this album because of its production and darkness. It's a solid album and I do not regret that. I do recommend checking them out, but as this is not their first album, it is a little disappointing in that aspect. The best feature besides the production is probably the guitar soloing. It's nearly always tasteful, not the whammy-bar obsessive crap one usually hears in death metal. This album can be had here.