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LOST LIFE
The Cur(s)e Of Karma

Funeral Industries (2013)
Rating: 7.5/10

German black metallers who know exactly how old school black metal can be created, Lost Life is the brainchild of drummer Grond and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Nephesus. These guys have been involved in creating sinister sounds since 2000, and The Cur(s)e Of Karma is their third full-length outing.

Fans of Darkthrone and that early to mid 90s regressive, true black metal sound should lap up this unholy dose of satanic misery. It’s easy to get wrapped up in those buzzing and often accessible riffs, which are belched out with armour-plated aplomb. The riffs are typical of that late 80s Bathory style of tin-can metal, a sound that was mocked back then and yet today sounds so blisteringly evil.

It’s only (un)natural that the vocals are a mere distant yelp amid the black ocean of hyper drums and remote bass, but boy can these cult metallers puke out a foetid feast of underground noise.

There are eight tracks on offer here, and the gruesome twosome never once revert to polished black metal. Instead, they spit on humanity and all that is holy by way of seething riffs and pitch black melody.

Those who may have heard the early release of ‘Planet Virus’ would have no doubt been engrossed by that killer riff and distant vocal sneer, and yet when the duo revert to pacier moments they still throw in a killer melody – all the while remaining completely impure. Well, joy of joys, the same can also be said for the miserable opener ‘Distress In The Limbus’, where Nephesus spits “Now you‘re finally dead, you exhaled your life, the body left on earth, the seizure for the worms”, amid those depressive guitars and clammy drums.

Lost Life maintain a high level of stuffiness for this morbid little record. This gives the album an under-produced feel, especially on tracks such as ‘Manifest Of Doom’ and the clawing, snarling quality of ‘Erratic Soul’ and ‘Unleash The Beast’. The latter track features a punky attitude beneath the rotten black metal timbers which continue to flake and fall around them.

The Cur(s)e Of Karma is, thankfully, the filthy little record I was expecting. Obviously there is a strong Norwegian black metal feel about the place, and the lyrics are predictably bleak somewhat, but at least you know what you’re getting with these guys. I take my chain-mail off to them in salutation, because this really is black metal for the apocalypse – the sort of unholy tumult that rightly so should squeeze the final drops of life from all of this horrendous symphonic black metal doing the rounds.

Neil Arnold

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