Lustre – Glimpses of Glory

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Atmospheric metal is a very niche genre – either you get it or you don’t. Sweden’s Lustre seem to want to divide the listeners even more with Glimpses Of Glory. I can see this going two ways for the majority of people: the listener will either love the epic soundscapes created by this one-man band, or they will either write them off as barely being metal and liken them more to Enya than any heavy metal band. Let’s please both sides; we’ll start with the good. Lustre does a fantastic job at creating an ambient experience with chilling vocals. There are three tracks on the album totaling over 40 minutes of music, and each track has a distinct sound. Track one sounds right at home with Xasthur and Hildskjalf-era Burzum. It starts slow and builds up momentum to a fantastic climax with barreling double-bass and the kvltest of black metal screams, but Lustre makes sure to keep the synth’s the main attraction of their sound. The second track, Lunar Light is what most typical black metal fans will find appealing. After a lengthy intro, the song turns into a Windir-esque black metal track. It’s almost as if Valfar himself returned from the dead to do this track. The synths are still the main focus and retains a calming effect over the music. Relaxing stuff. However, this ultimately turns out to be the biggest detractor of Glimpses Of Glory. You have to be heavily into ambient/atmospheric metal to really appreciate this band, even for the more accessible black metal tracks. The third track is absolutely ludicrous and will be the main aspect that negative reviews of this album will focus on. It is not metal, it’s Enya. This is the type of music new age yoga places played in the mid-90′s. I understand Lustre and I understand ambient/atmospheric black metal, but I cannot put my faith behind a song that is the same four synth notes for 13 minutes that’s too boring to be engaging in any way. It’s the one glaring downfall on this album, and it stands out. I feel like this album would have made a fantastic EP if the third track was taken out and some was trimmed from the first track, but for now, Lustre will serve as a gateway into the world of metal-but-not-really ambient bands in the 2010′s.

Written by Jackson May
More: 2010, Albums, Black Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Lustre