Cult of Luna, undisputed leaders of the Post/Sludge scene, are back with a new EP.
Founded in 1998 in Sweden, the band is actually composed of Magnus Lindberg (guitar/percussions), Johannes Persson (guitar/vocals, Riwen), Andreas Johansson (bass), Thomas Hedlund (drums), Fredrik Kihlberg (guitar/vocals) and Kristian Karlsson (keyboards/vocals, pg.lost), and decide to close with The Raging River the adventure that began with the previous album.
The band not only decided to release an EP, they also created their own label, Red Creek Recordings, that they consider as a way to get closer to their fans, whether they are with them since “twenty years of two days”. About the artwork, we stay some strange visual with multiple interpretations created by Erik Olofsson (guitariste from 1999 to 2014).
Three Bridges, the first song, presents a dark heaviness, seizing howlings and a captivating dissonance before showing us the real strength of the band’s sound, ornated by psychedelic keyboards. The rhythmic progresses while allowing as only moment of rest an airy Prog break, then riffs come back to choke us again before What I Leave Behind, a black but catchy mass of sound. To those crushing Sludge sonorities, heady tones turning in the air are melted, sometimes remaining silent to let vocals oppress us.
Inside of a Dream is a quite special song, because we have the legendary Mark Lanegan’s soft voice (ex-Screaming Trees, ex-Queens of the Stone Age…) for a very close to the band hypnotic Prog ballad. The band goes back to heavy sonorities for I Remember a very melancholic song that doesn’t forget to include some aggressive part to its seizing softness. Leads literally fly over this impressive rhythmic, then Wave After Wave, the last song, strikes. Once again, dissonance floods our mind, already conquered by those weighing and oppressive sounds, then vocals join the catchy melting. Rhythmic holds us out of breath, making those twelve minutes pass in a blink of an eye, as the composition dragged us out of time.
Cult of Luna is an unparalleled mastery since more than twenty years, a soft addictive oppression that gnaws us and which is good for us. The Raging River is our new fix, between known but delightful basis and new tasty elements, to which we discover new flavours at each listening.
95/100