How about a trip through space, to some industrial black metal? Something that sounds catchy, yet deep and dark as the cosmos, with a sometimes repetitive, but really fun album.
The first track, “Voyagers”, tells us how the album is going to be, with its catchy synth melody followed by distorted riffs and snarling, high-pitched growls. The song feels very upbeat, and yet those demonic vocals, and deep-voiced choirs in the middle and outro, make it feel like something coming from the depths of darkness. Or space. In other words, the band’s sound fits the album’s themes very well.
We hear more of that in the title track and its wild energy, even snarlier vocals and lyrics about exploring the universe to understand the meaning of life but unleashing all demons into the world in the process. This song, and its frantic black metal riffs and equally frantic synths, is the band’s sound in a nutshell. But that’s not the only great example of the album’s sound. There’s also the catchy synths and distant, distorted growls suddenly getting louder on “Lost in the Void”. Or the spaceship radio broadcast followed by growls of “Ravenous Planet”, and its really catchy, clean-sounding riff that creates a nice contrast with the ferocious vocals. The chorus is sung with clean vocals, and sound just as distant and eerie as on the first track. Even on “Take us Home”, where they’re the first to show up, they create a melancholic, unsettling atmosphere. The synths also create an eerie melody, different from the clean and catchy ones they play on the rest of the album. Fitting for a song about knowing the end is near.
Then we get more songs about evil beings travelling through space, or being lost in the depths of the cosmos. The fierce and dark “Cosmic Plague”, with its eerie yet catchy synths and evil-sounding vocals, is about terrifying, intelligent but merciless beings conquering and destroying all planets like a plague. They could either be humans, or any sufficiently advanced aliens. “Liftoff” is as hopeful as this album can get, simply being about beginning your space travel and your quest for the meaning of life, with some nice and heavy riffs and a cool mix of clean and harsh vocals. Maybe keeping this one for the end is a better idea than using it as a first track, because it gives us hope that something good could happen, after all the scary stuff heard in previous tracks. This last full track, and the instrumental outro “Nirlakh”, with its sweet and yet eerie industrial sounds, make a great ending to this album, one that makes us feel like a really cool space trip might still be possible.
If you like science fiction, this could be the black metal album you didn’t know you needed. It has some cool horror and sci fi stories, some ferocity and catchiness and some really good guitar and synths work. Yes, the synth melodies, or the vocals can be a little same-y sometimes. But there’s no sound noticeably worse then the others. They’re all equally enjoyable and the album still has a very good sound that really helps their lyrics come to life. Those are some really cool, monstrous sounds coming from the darkness of space. If you get on board with the Labyrinthus Stellarum spaceship, you’re guaranteed to have a great time.
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