Metal Storm logo
Lotus Thief - Oresteia review




Bandcamp music player
Reviewer:
N/A

86 users:
7.94
Band: Lotus Thief
Album: Oresteia
Release date: January 2020


01. Agamemnon
02. Banishment
03. Libation Bearers
04. Woe
05. The Furies
06. Reverence
07. Sister In Silence
08. The Kindly Ones

Tired of Tolkien-inspired metal? Try Aeschylus-inspired metal! Who is Aeschylus? Let's just say he is often described as "the father of tragedy".

Lotus Thief have always been fond of turning to classic literary works for inspiration, often of the ones less approached in metal, thus here we have the trilogy Oresteia, also the namesake of the album, that describes the rise and fall of house Atreus and its king, Agamemnon. And to properly approach this work, Lotus Thief have also gone through a line-up change and expansion from a duo to a full fledged band. And that is clearly felt in how expansive the sound feels now.

The best way to describe the music on Oresteia would be post-metal infused with doom and black and psych, but not threading more in the post than in the metal side of it, while definitely feeling like it tells a great story. The vocals are mostly of the clean kind, though black metal vocals do make their appearance at times, and the expressive vocals are definitely the strongest mean that the album uses to achieve its narrative feeling, but I'd be lying if I said the music isn't extremely evocative with its atmospheres. But as great as the album is with its lush sounds and subtle nuances and intricacies, this is a very vocal-driven album.

There's a lot of enjoyment to be had by listening to Oresteia without giving a damn about its literary inspiration. The post sound of it is extremely seductive in a way, and "expansive" is a word I just cannot use just once to describe this. This twists and turns from beautiful classical pieces to dark ambient to evocative post-rock to vitriolic black metal and back to the wonderful vocals. But there is such a great synergy between the text and the music, with the music being more than a vessel to put ancient texts into music, and the texts being more than just cool stuff to use as lyrics. This is certainly an album worth digging deeper into.

A lot of the kvlt fuzz that the band used to have has been shredded away, but what came in its place is a meditation on downfall that doesn't feel like it could've worked any other way, and the results are just superb.






Written on 13.01.2020 by Doesn't matter that much to me if you agree with me, as long as you checked the album out.


Comments

Comments: 5   Visited by: 125 users
13.01.2020 - 12:57
Rating: 9
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Kawir: Who are you?
Lotus Thief: I'm you, but stronger.
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
Loading...
13.01.2020 - 13:46
nikarg

Written by RaduP on 13.01.2020 at 12:57

Kawir: Who are you?
Lotus Thief: I'm you, but stronger.

I'm sold. I'll give this a listen later.

edit after listening: nice stuff but I'd do the dialogue like this:
Kawir: Who are you?
Lotus Thief: I'm you, but different.
Loading...
13.01.2020 - 15:45
VIG
Account deleted
Thanks for recommending this one to me, pretty good stuff. Nice that it has Botanist members too.
Loading...
13.01.2020 - 15:52
Rating: 9
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Written by Guest on 13.01.2020 at 15:45

Thanks for recommending this one to me, pretty good stuff. Nice that it has Botanist members too.

Which is how I found out about them in the first place
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
Loading...
13.01.2020 - 17:07
Zap
Guest
Didn't even know about the Botanist connection. That's funny though, one of Botanist's live members has a project called Thief.
Loading...

Hits total: 2905 | This month: 7