Reviewer: Chris

Halfway through the opening track “This Mighty Sight” from Lustre’s A Glimpse of Glory it’s disturbingly obvious that this music is either going to completely overtake me or bore me to thoughts of suicide; there usually is no in-between with this type of ambient black metal. I can say that it is a three-song epic of sure brilliant design.

Lustre is the one-man project of Nachtzeit, one-time drummer for Sweden’s Hypothermia, and his vision of dismal, dark landscapes and hauntingly tempestuous dirges that call upon the darkest, most bleak sections of our souls. I cannot say just how much I enjoyed this CD; I will say that I’ve already ordered two of his limited edition CD’s, as well as pre-ordered A Glimpse of Glory, which is, to be fair, Burzum’s Filosofem on Valium. There are some amazing moments of musical serenity and gorgeous solitude, the likes of which many bands have attempted and subsequently failed. This is as close to the majesty of the genre as it gets.

There’s actual sadness fused into these notes, my friends; “Lunar light” is so conceptually beautiful it’s numbing to my senses, a sincere compliment I rarely give out. When you hear the wolves howling it’s not left to cheap device; the moment is catapulted up and over the music as more a literary device than a musical shortcut. The winds whipping through the trees amidst the sound of burning embers is not at all obligatory here; the setting is such that not only does the tone call for such ‘helper noises’ to set the mood, it is implemented without haphazard disarray or casual ‘cut-and-paste’. I simply fell in love with this music the very minute “The Mighty Sight” kicked in. By the end of the CD with “Amongst the Tress” the lovely sound of birds compliments the tune so much that I immediately played the offering again…and again. If it’s possible to fall in love with a sound that you’ve had in your head for a long period but couldn’t convey to fellow band members, friends or fans this could very well be it for me. I seriously have become very emotional while listening to this music, another utterance I rarely admit to.

Nachtzeit manages to find the happy marriage of ambient black metal and visual occurrence in his music, envisioning himself a storyteller within the relative safety of instrumental visages. What is most enlightening about A Glimpse of Glory is its simplicity within its complexity; that is, the music sounds as if it can be assembled by anyone with a similar vision, yet one man managed to convey it so well and pass it along our cluttered desktops that I honestly believe this will be in my Top 10 at year’s end.    

All I can say is I’m beyond enlightened, past amazed and nestled somewhere in the bosom of unconditional basking.

Release Date: September 20, 2010
Label: De Tenebrarum Principio

TRACK LISTING

1.  This Mighty Sight
2.  Lunar Light
3.  Amongst the Trees

Total playing time:  40:38

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Lustre - A Glimpse of Glory

August 22, 2010