LANTERN
II: Morphosis
Dark Descent (2017)
Rating: 8/10
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Brace yourself for another dank venture into the sordid underground world occupied by Finnish chaos-mongers Lantern. Four years have passed since the band coughed up 2013’s debut Below, and what a fine, grating nightmare that was. And here we are again, treated to another cold, harsh dose of what many would describe as blackened death metal. But the reality is that Lantern churn out a disconcerting brand of unnerving extreme metal – something cold, bleak and esoteric as well as cavernous, obscure and macabre.
This time round there’s still that musty air which permeates the busy guitar sound – Lantern offering up an interesting macabre mishmash of discordant black metal passages mixed with darkly melodic dissonant death metal oddness. Whether bursting out a rapid frost of Scandinavian evil or stabbing the ears with a Morbid Angel-inspired onslaught, there’s always much to savour within the grim, bitter framework of Lantern’s cacophony.
What’s really compelling on this second outing, however, are those more frequent nods to classic death metal; more so in the vocals where the likes of, say, Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel) or Barney Greenway (Napalm Death) are conjured. But the vocals merely act as gnarled, grim expressions over that tight wall of melancholy aggression, evident in the likes of the concise ‘Hosting Yellow Fungi’ with its battering ram approach implementing blackened, frost-bitten guitar grates coupled with unholy death metal threads.
The slower passages are delivered with harsh vocal barks to accompany them, hinting at a more measured approach from the creepy duo – again evident with the catchy, crunchy opening chords of ‘Cleansing Of The Air’, where the percussion rumbles with ominous ability before the pace quickens to a whipping old school death metal crush.
Some may argue that this new offering is more modernised in its approach, but it’s simply the sound of a band evolving. Whereas the debut belonged in the same fetid swamps of classic Celtic Frost and the likes, II: Morphosis takes the old school feel but heaps bucket loads of progressive thinking on top. And it’s still very much Lantern in its art, with a pinching blast of nocturnal air constructed on intricate rhythms and thrashier balancing.
Those seeking speedier climes will revel in ‘Transmigration’, while fans of a mouldier, doomier atmosphere will enjoy the gloom-laden ‘Virgin Damnation’. Elsewhere, tracks such as opener ‘Black Miasma’ or the instrumental ‘Necrotic Epiphanies’ blend varying styles; assembling looser, grindier segments with progressive leans and then well-balanced, progressive strains.
The mournful hue is always present, however, Lantern still sounding like some thrashing titan awakening from its nocturnal dungeon and whacking its frustrated limbs against those ancient walls. But when this leviathan fully breaks free, don’t be surprised if this Finnish posse slips off into other unchartered waters, as one always gets the feeling that within their skeletal frame that Lantern is not a beast willing to stick to boundaries.
The black metal filter by which death metal tumult is clearly sieved is there for all to hear, but as every one of Necrophilos’ hoarse wails echoes around the brain, one cannot help feel that hidden away, in some further, far-flung abode there is another Lantern monster waiting to be born and to defy the odds of extreme metal. II: Morphosis, however, suggests a band not quite there yet. But with Cruciatus behind such bewitching alchemy, it’s surely only a matter of time before Lantern rule the roost.
Neil Arnold
