This week, with no real planning involved, we’re featuring a slew of shorter releases that still pack a lot of energy and enjoyment. I’ll think back on this week next time I have to write about a two-hour album. Today’s selection is unique because it features a really creative and exciting split release from two bands that are almost comprised of the same people.
We’ve written before about both Lotus Thief and Forlesen for their fuller works, but they have a new split effort that shows each beast has expanded musically and philosophically and still can leave your brain spinning in your skull over what you just heard. Lotus Thief—harsh vocalist Ascalaphus, vocalist/bassist/guitarist/synth and mandolin player Bezaelith, backing vocalist Mohrany, guitarist/synth player Petit Albert, guitarist Romthulus, percussionist Sonnungr—last haunted us with 2020’s “Oresteia,” and now they’re back with a track inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron that is a work of stories about people dealing with life during the Black Death. Fitting for music created during our most recent pandemic. As for Forlesen, it also features Ascalaphus (vocals, guitar), Bezaelith (vocals, guitar, bass), and Petit Albert (B3 organ, piano) and includes Maleus on drums, and this track is both a romantic and dark take on a traditional folk ballad that sounds perfectly reimagined in their hands. It’s also their first new music since 2020’s mesmerizing second album “Black Terrain.”
“In Perdition” starts off breezy for a track that centers on the goddamn plague, but here we are. Lush singing and immersive melodies combine before the first heavy blows land, and then the leads take off for the sky. Shrieks gut as steamy cleansing turns your emotions inside out, hurtling through dreamy terrain and then taking a hard turn into madness. “And you, accursed as you are,” is wailed, sending chills, “You blaspheme with every waif of straw beneath your feet… and his clothes torn off.” Fiery hell spreads as the playing jolts and excites, mystical elements swell and increase the temperature, and the melodies squish. Hearty singing from Bezaelith elevates, calling, “Mine’s too great a sin, what manner of man is this? In paradise, in perdition,” as acoustics sweep everything away.
Forlesen’s “Black Is the Color” begins with drums echoing, Ascalaphus and Bezaelith uniting voices, slinking into darkness and reverie. “I love my lover and well she knows I love the ground whereon she goes, and I still I hope that day will come when she and I will be as one,” rivets your emotions, and the guitars pick up the heat. The soaring scorches as the drumming paces, the singing reaches out and grasps hearts, and the guitars envelop, sending blood through veins. “And still I hope that day will come when she and I will be as one,” Ascalaphus repeats as the keys drip, and the dramatic flourishes make your emotions peak. Sounds swell as the elements pound down, chants flourish and continue, and the drums slowly slip away, everything disappearing into the horizon.
These two bands might share a lot of members, but the work Lotus Thief and Forlesen commit to this split effort stand apart from each other, even if they have similar metallic DNA. These are two of the more imaginative bands in the experimental heavy scene, and if you’re new to either or both, this gives you a nice bite size example of what makes them so exciting. This is a fun, fantastical collection, and its clutches will dig deep into you and make your dreams turn into different colors and settings.
For more on the Lotus Thief, go here: https://www.facebook.com/LotusThief
For more on Forlesen, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Forlesen
To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://metalodyssey.8merch.us/
Or here (Europe): https://metalodyssey.8merch.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/i.voidhanger.records/
Meat Mead Metal 