Lotan announces its first album.
After two EPs, the Danish band created in 2020 and composed of Martin Rubini (vocals, Vanir), Philip Kaaber (guitar/bass, Vanir), Andy Dragsberg (guitar), Lasse Guldbæk Jensen (bass, ex-Vanir, ex-Abscission) and Jon Elmquist Schmidt (drums) announces the release of Lotan, through Uprising! Records.
With its soothing and melancholic introduction, Diabolis Victor creates a veil of softness before Black Metal’s rage suddenly explodes, infusing its occult power to the track as well as to vocal parts. The soaring elements are still present in the background and in slower moments contrasting with the controlled storm which leads us to Ignis, a composition with extremely melancholic leads. The rhythmic basis leaves them an important place by offering a throbbing but still very sharp and worrying sound on the most visceral parts, whereas Ashera is fully anchored in the most abrasive darkness. Old School tones are sometimes embellished with dissonant melodies before Ishtar unveils a half-warlike, half-mystical atmosphere with oriental sounds. The heavy atmosphere remains catchy and federative, offering a motivating jerky rhythmic on which the different elements meet, then the band plunges us back into a cold Black Metal with Servant of Yammu, a track with obvious Nordic influences paying tribute to the style’s roots, creating a block of raw sound. The atmosphere remains fascinating and sometimes majestic while keeping its rage, then The Faithless allows us a break with its short soaring introduction, followed by haunting riffs which quickly strengthen to become very aggressive, including slight ungodly Thrash influences. The rage will only fade away to let an ominous outro give way to Leviathan, the last track, to start with a mysterious sound, followed by a heady rhythmic which welcomes massive screams and piercing leads, but also two intriguing passages after which the rhythmic will be slower, until this disturbing final.
After two very good EPs, Lotan asserts its style with a skilfully constructed and very fluid album, which lets the roots of Black Metal mix with other complementary influences, making Lotan a very good choice to be carried away by icy waves.
85/100