Band:	Lotan
Album:	Lotan
Style:	Melodic black metal
Release date:	March 2023

01. Diabolis Victor
02. Ignis
03. Ashera
04. Ishtar
05. Servant Of Yammu
06. The Faithless
07. Leviathan

Lotan combines a straight-forward black metal approach with a heavy tinge of Oriental melody, Mesopotamian themes, and a hard-rocking flair to top it all off. At times, I wonder if I’m listening to Melechesh. Take the Middle-Eastern, rocking riff of “Ignis” and it could easily fit onto any of aforementioned band’s albums.

This is not a bad thing. You’ll find Lotan opening up with a pretty, suggestive piano that soon leads into a very simplistic three-chord riff that ensues across all the first song. It is melodic, but very straight-forward, until the early-era Amorphis Oriental guitar leads start to rear their heads. The gang-shouts “We are at war” are somewhat grating, but the main vocalist has a very neat snarl that goes well together with the twists-and-turns-lacking music on display on “Diabolis Victor”. The production is a bit too loud and messy, but I suppose it sort of fits. The opening track ends as it begun, with a short but sweet piano outro.

Next follow two tracks with a bit more of a mid-paced approach, even though they utilise double-kick drums at well-decided places. It makes for more dynamic music than the opening track, but I am still not convinced, even though I get heavy Melechesh vibes from the thrashy, Oriental riffs. However, second song “Ignis” after a while devolves into a short breather of a passage before the full-band onslaught returns, which gives some well-needed dynamics to the tracklist; likewise does “Ashera” employ something like fast-paced blackened thrash/doom before exploding into blast-beats over and over again.

“Ishtar” sounds a lot like a Rotting Christ song, with its ritualistic chanting and melodic, start-stop riffing, and its general focus on ancient Mesopotamian mythology.

“Nannaya, ziggurath, Nannaya, Ishtar,
Goddess, woman, storm of [the] dire.
Inanna, evening star,
By the blood of man, you must ascend.”

The penultimate song, “The Faithless”, is a well-needed breather after the heavy meloblack assault—scratch that, after half a minute it evolves into the same pseudo-thrashy, meloblack assault the entire album consists of (disregarding “Ishtar”). However, a hard-rocking, chugging riff supports the verses, which brings Melechesh back to mind. It’s way too long, though, and overstays its welcome. “Leviathan” closes out the album with more of the same style, and is probably the best song on here, but I can’t help the feeling I’ve heard this all before in better amalgamations.

Lotan is a band with potential, but I’d wish they create something more dynamic next time around that doesn’t rely on clichés. Any meloblack fan will recognise these instantly and be able to trace to some of this album's more obvious influences. Again, there is nothing wrong with playing a well-established style, but there needs to be something that catches my attention, and I’m not finding it here. It is not a bad album, nor even average. It is a good album, but nothing more.