Band:	Psilocybe Larvae
Album:	The Labyrinth Of Penumbra
Release date:	November 2012

01. Soul Trekking
02. Haunting
03. Shining Shambhala
04. Trial By Fire
05. Into The Labyrinth
06. Contemplation
07. Fortress Of Time
08. River Of Remembrance
09. No Escape


These days it sometimes seems that composition-wise the death metal scene has become pretty black and white. That is, you either have a band that sticks to the most generic formula of cookie-cutter death metal imaginable, a la a recycled version of Cannibal Corpse, or you have a band that goes for something blatantly left field to make a more original, creative impact, and rarely is a balance between these two separate camps to be found. One such band that have really made a great effort at the experimental structure are Russia's Psilocybe Larvae, who, as their name suggests, manage to craft with their unique brand of death metal a truly interesting result that "takes you places," to say the least, and their latest offering, 2012's Labyrinth Of Penumbra, is an excellent contribution to their aggressive, yet strangely psychedelic, sound.

Labyrinth Of Penumbra is an excellent album for those (like myself) who like their extreme metal served with a splash of an epic, heavily melodic atmosphere thrown in here and there. The album kicks off with "Soul Trekking," and it would appear at first that Labyrinth Of Penumbra is like any other death metal album, fast riffs and harsh vocals galore. But then in come the little whispers underscored by a xylophone and bass melody at around 3 minutes in, and the brief (yet effective) ambience they add to the song structure as a whole is enough to tell you that Psilocybe Larvae aren't your average death metal band.

If nothing else, what really sells the package of Labyrinth Of Penumbra, then, are the melodies and overall rhythm structures. You're not going to find any super-fast blast beat widdly-diddly picking kinda stuff here, but in a way that makes the music more enjoyable: a lot simpler to mellow out to, less complicated to fully absorb, and, especially during the album's more trippy, space-like moments, quite easy to just sit back and get lost in. This sense of melody also carries over to the guitar solos as well, which aren't anything overtly grandiose or technical like the playing of Pat O'Brien or Christian Muenzner (no hate on them, they're both excellent guitarists), but rather a lot more relaxed and chord-based, in a very pleasing style that's actually quite reminiscent of classic psychedelic rock (check out the one towards the end of "Haunting" in particular).

In essence, Labyrinth Of Penumbra is also all about balance. Psilocybe Larvae never really lean too far in one direction with this album, and the mix between the more aggressive moments of the growled vocals and faster riffs ("Trial By Fire," "River Of Remembrance") is offset by the clean vocals and melodic riffs ("Shining Shambhala," "Fortress of Time") quite well. This album is a great offering by yet another extreme metal band that thankfully seem to not have lost a sense of including some more epic, creative moments within the traditionally more harsh and orthodox sound of their style, to wonderful effect. Highly recommended for fans of Enslaved, Obscura, and Esoteric. If you like epic extreme metal, git on it y'all!