Artist: Dusk Lurker
Title: Celestial Fantasies In The Mind Of A Lunatic
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Matriarch Records
I’ve been aware of the UK’s Dusk Lurker for a few years now, m introduction being through a split with Archierophant in 2021. Oh and some coffee. This though is their first full length and I was very intrigued to see how they intervening years had progressed things for the shadowy project.
‘Descension’ introduces itself slowly with gathering, glittering synth lights in a darkness. The music spirals downwards slowly before the guitars and drums reach up to meet it. The melody is eerie, graceful and smooth… It clears a space for you to stand, pushes back the world and then ‘Perversion Through Rayonnant Portals’ begins. The machine gun kick drums are a little bit of a distraction at first as the slow melody winds and builds with an almost pagan metal feel. Then the vocals come in and the black metal howl, echoing in the shadows drags the riff to the fore. It shifts tempos with ease, pounding sections letting a very heavy metal feel to guitar breaks glide over the top before the depths of the black metal reassert themselves. It is genuinely a tricky song to take in if you’ve never heard the band before; the differing sections are blended smoothly, with a fine touch, but it never settles beyond the rich melody always returning. . Superbly arranged and judged b
The title track is a pretty full on snarl of black metal; stormy, billowing riffs and breaks whip around then withdraw to prowl around like a beast looking for the next opening. It’s mesmeric and the impression of malignant intent it brings is absolutely superb. The sense of the derangement of some psyche is strong, the deep atmosphere evoked by that slow, winding melody is suffocating.
‘Infernal Cesspit’ is initially a more skeletal affair of sharp fast riffing and those unnerving, hollow sounding vocals but when it slows and begins a slow wind back up it absolutely takes control. You can almost feel it grabbing your throat, throttling you and by the time the hammer drops again it has dragged the melody with it before once more putting it to the sword. Feral. Schizophrenic. Violent.
‘Ascension Of Dusk’ begins deep down in darkness. It’s ponderous and wary, a beast preparing something and when the tempo shifts and the melody deepens and darkens it is just superb, like watching the beast uncoil and find its prey. The sound is subterranean somehow; perhaps the echoing vocals with the deep toned guitar work or the way the gentle, quiet section invades the space left. Whatever it is, this dark, stalking track never loses its way. ‘Heretic’ splices a high keening but oddly mournful melody to Dusk Lurker’s raw sound, a mid paced but malicious piece. Once more they utilize a moment of quiet to amplify the tension so well, surging into the close.
The longer ‘Drifting Into The Arms Of Terror’ has a fine buzzing riff to open. The vocals begin as a low, nasty hoarse whisper almost; a nightmare in your ear as your slumber slowly takes you. But once it does an absolute deluge of torment falls. It speeds, it slices and tears, it snarlsand then the screaming begins. It’s a raw nightmare, pushing you further and further down with each shift in tempo. And then if goes quiet; drifting synth sounds, a sample of Vincent Price in his Roger Corman days I believe. A curious fade out to be sure but yes, it works…
The album closes with ‘False Affection For A Dying Man’, a suitably harsh final track. The climbing chords, the rhythmic vocals snapping lines. Again it reaches into a quiet section, a moment of solitude that slowly rises into a thoughtful, fading guitar lead…
This is quite the debut. Dusk Lurker have their own, and strange personality. They have so many ideas in each song and, for the far greater part, these all work smoothly which is hugely impressive for a debut. They have melody and yet retain the raw edge. They have atmosphere but aren’t afraid to simply savage the listener. There is a gothic element that runs deeply throughout as focused by that sample and yet it is far darker and bitter than that might suggest.
Intelligent, surprising and clearly determined to carve their own sound Dusk Lurker are definitely a truly intriguing prospect.
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 