Lugubre - Supreme Ritual Genocide

I must admit to having a sick fascination with black metal bands that emerge in the present day and miserably attempt to keep the lineage going with a watered-down, completely plastic form of blackness that wouldn’t scare a hopped-up sewer rat. I tear down these bands so quickly they have little time to wipe the tears and pain from their awfully-painted eyes while forgetting their studded arm bands are actually cutting their faces to shreds. Such is the life a black metal ‘musician’; I do aim to please, you know?

From the other side of the scepter you stumble onto a band like Lugubre that puts out a piece of work like Supreme Ritual Genocide and you might even weep yourself because someone out there actually gets it! The line might actually have some legitimate hope for survival if a band like this comes around every one in 20 and does things with honesty and integrity. Sadly, these are few and far between, but I so relish when they do emerge. In this case the blackness rises from the Netherlands where one of my other picks of the year comes from in Carach Angren; I like this small, but potent Dutch explosion so far.

The second effort from Lugubre pretty much picks up where the equally great Anti-Human Black Metal left us way back in ’04 only with a gained momentum that delivers a violent ebon assault that will no doubt excite and impress the various legions of black metal fans scattered throughout the spectrum. With some excellent production and wonderful attention to riffs and melody, Lugubre reassembles the blasphemous genre accordingly in songs like “Blade to Blade”, “Twilight of the Weapon” and “Musterd Gas Ambrosia” to name just three. Each track seems to accomplish what the last three Marduk albums failed to do and that is to shake up the canister just enough to have all of the ingredients complement each other as opposed to run over one another with reckless and wanton abandon for the sake of speed and expected complacency. Lugubre is a terrific surprise and I’m quite pleased to be able to review it.

Asega handles the vocal duties for this full-length as Anti-Human vocalist Hermit obviously went into hiding. Asega adds a strong, obtrusive element to the band that is as vital as it is impossible to ignore. His overpowering yet even-paced delivery sets Supreme Ritual Genocide well above most of the unmitigated garbage that calls itself black metal and actually does so with straight faces and wasted studio time. The drum sound is tight, mixed very nicely by someone who obviously knew a thing or two about low end being important to a sound. In fact, it’s mixed quite nicely throughout, lending all the more credence to the band’s sophomore recording. 

This album is chaotic, like a group of unruly cretins breaking into your home while you sit there watching television and just ransacks the joint for the fun of it. It’s something you can’t help but enjoy if you’re into the purer form of the movement, and yes, it can still exist even in this horrible vacuum created by latecomers and outright phonies. Take heed, oh ye of little faith - there is hope yet for the underground in which we dwell amongst the fakes and purity-challenged.

Release Date: September 16, 2010
Label: Folter Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Chaoskult
2.  Enslavement
3.  Musterd Gas Ambrosia
4.  Exterminate
5.  Blade to Blade
6.  Twilight of the Weapon
7.  Via Negativa
8.  Supreme Ritual Genocide
9.  Seperation of the Flesh

Total playing time:  40:00

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*Comments:

Reviewer: Chris

March 25, 2011