Lord Almighty
Paths
(Self-Release)
Lord Almighty have arrived with their debut full-length, bringing some rather interesting progressive black n’ roll from Boston. I’ve looked at every resource known to me, but cannot track down any information about who is in the act. While Metal Archives, the band’s Bandcamp page and even my press sheets don’t seem to offer anything on these guys, I can tell you that there are four of them and they seem to wish to remain an enigma. But in the end, it’s not about who’s in the band, it’s about the kind of music they make. I can certainly say that I’m quite pleased with what I’ve heard from these guys the first time around and this second listen only seems to cement that. There’s certainly a bite in the guitars, as well as the ungodly harsh vocal utterances that remind me of everything that black metal should be in this age. Most of all, the record production kind of hits between well-produced, yet still rough around the edges, and that works for me. It feels like black metal, but doesn’t sound like it was recorded in a basement somewhere and that’s a plus.
Aside from the record being harsh, scaly and demonic, if one really begins to focus, they will notice that these gentlemen are actually playing riffs and melodies, not just overloading the disc with a slew of tremolos and blasting the kit to death as with most black metal acts. That being said, there still remains a lot of that double-bass here and the record certainly benefits from it. But that’s because Lord Almighty know what in the hell they’re doing. They know when to hammer down on the drums, when to transition from one riff-structure to another, and how to keep my ears entertained due to the amount of texture and musicianship incorporated on this disc. What makes them different, is that these Bostoners know exactly how to play music in general, not just black metal. They could have been a thrash band, a prog act or even a death/groove piece. Hell, they could have even played alternative rock if they wanted to, but instead, they decided to mix all of these unique ingredients together in order to create a record that feels authentic. I’m not just throwing words around here in order to decorate some big name act – these guys are practically unheard of and a label should snatch them up relatively quickly after hearing a performance like this.
I am telling you, listeners have no real idea as to how remarkable of a performance they’re getting. Paths is not just a black metal album as you’ll notice from the opening riffs of “O Wanderer.” While yes, those are the kinds of flowery riff-atmospheres that an act like Scale The Summit or Animals As Leaders would use, very few bands would ever think to take such a progressive little art-piece like that and throw it right into black metal. Then they just throw a rock solo right in the middle of a melodic atmosphere to later decorate it with some proggy-grooves, because that is what real musicians do. They don’t strive to sound like any one band, they strive to sound like themselves. Lord Almighty are an act that I feel will mean something in another couple of years if they stay together and get the proper promotion as well as a potent fanbase that will support this effort.
That being said, of course we’re going to have the displeased hordes that refuse to have any sort of progressive, rock or groove elements in their beloved black metal, but we are exactly twenty years from ‘96 and things have to change at some point. Don’t you even get just a little tired of the same stuff for twenty years? Variety is the spice of life, as I’ve said before – and that’s what black metal fans are going to get with Lord Almighty. I’d actually consider this record to be as spectacular an offering as when acts like Wolves In The Throne Room and Krallice first began with their new and interesting approaches to the genre nearly a decade ago. Lord Almighty sound like the next stage of black metal evolution and I’m more than willing to embrace that. Are you?
