Genre : Post-metal
Released : February 11th, 2022
Label : Metal Blade Records
FFO : The Ocean, Neurosis, Russian Circles
"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper"
The world-famous and oft-quoted conclusion to T. S Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men" captures quite perfectly the way Cult of Luna's 2019 "A Dawn To Fear" made me feel with its themes of grief and visions of an unavoidable apocalypse that slowly creeps its way to us like the shadow of a storm cloud.
Between "A Dawn To Fear" 's release and now, soon after CoL' s latest full-length, "The Long Road North", we have been experiencing and viewing events unfolding across the world that have often evoked apocalyptical times; whether it be in the shape of a global pandemic, an environmental crisis that keeps deteriorating or the now recent threat of a global conflict.
In the face of these new realities, Cult of Luna has chosen a cold journey into isolation to escape from the prophetic words of "A Dawn To Fear".
This newfound focus on the slow-burning effects of solitude (which at this point, now goes without saying, was undoubtedly inspired by the different kinds of isolations we've all had to experience over the course of the last two years) is of course present lyrically :
"When winter denies the dawn
When the sun is held captive
There is no place where you can run
Out here you'll die alone"
("Blood Upon Stone")
But if there is one thing Cult of Luna excel at, it is conveying moods and landscapes with their lengthy tracks upon which they add details and variations until the canvas is complete.
And in this case, the less urgent, slower songs with the incorporations of saxophone, xylophone, vibrant shimmering layers of synth do a fantastic job of depicting a cold and unforgiving landscape in which it is easy to feel lost and alone.
With Cult of Luna's music also often comes the notion of voyage, whether it is of epic sci-fi proportions with 2016's "Mariner" or 2013's "Vertikal" or a journey of a more human and personal scale like "The Long Road North" has to offer.
Musically, CoL offer something that is a natural continuation of "A Dawn To Fear" and last year's EP "The Raging River" with some additional guests that diversify the band's steady and colossal sound.
Once again, Cult of Luna have conjured up a sonically evocative epic journey that perhaps feels more personal and vulnerable this time around but stimulates the unconscious mental imagery as much as always, which for me, is the main thing I seek when it comes to this band's music.
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