I bought into the hype of Lantern’s previously release, but it overall left me with a cold feeling. Not that cold, frosty black metal feeling, but that “what you thought was going to be a good thing, but didn’t turn out as well as you hoped, like all of my romantic relationships” feeling. It garnered some good and even stellar reviews throughout metaldom, so I’m thinking I was in the minority.

To begin the album is the 7-minute track called “Strange Nebula,” which wastes very little time getting moving with some excellent drumming and a solid lead to go along with the blasting. The vocals begin about a minute in with a pulverizing riff. While it has gone through a couple of changes, I noticed myself looking down at the time on the track, only to realize it was about half over. More changes occur, but they’re not different enough for me to distinguish from the last riff. A coherent, decent opener, but I’m not impressed.

A shorter track follows in the next one, which is called “Beings.” It’s not bad, but it is ultimately unremarkable as well. “Portraits,” which follows immediately after, starts out with a slightly different vocal delivery and a cleanly played guitar. It doesn’t take long, but then again, it doesn’t have long, since the track itself barely eclipses 2 minutes, for it to return to a familiar sounding riff. Despite it being the shortest cut so far, it is the most impactful, and is a path the band should consider traveling a bit more.

“Cauldron of Souls” stood out to me as well because of the lead, which begins as buried about a minute-and-a-half in. With about two minutes left, there’s dead silence, then another lead comes in, which lasts for about a minute. The last 30 seconds or so are the best of this album so far.

We’ve skipped one, but let’s talk about the final track “Monolithic Abyssal Dimensions.” It is indeed monolithic. The entire album is 39 minutes. 14-plus of which come from this track. There’s nothing about it too off the beaten path until about 4 minutes in. This is where the vocals take a break for a minute and we have some semi-clean guitar. Another minute later, we have the same, except the arrangement is different and a nice guitar lead occurs. It almost sounds like power metal for a moment before going back into the blasting. There are a few other great parts throughout the track.

However, “great parts” is how the album can be defined, in my opinion. There are great sections throughout, but nothing that really sticks. Those great parts may sound good. There are certainly some headbangable riffs, but they frequently last a short amount of time and are not repeated. This is album number 3 for these guys and they still sound like a band struggling to write repeatable songs. It’s not completely irredeemable as there are qualities to enjoy, but after many listens, nothing stands out. It’s a pass for me.

“Sleeper of Hypnagog” is up next, with some doomy melody thrown around. Quicker pace at the 1 minute mark, not blast beats, just a real rotten, filthy beat and the 1.25 beat is quite fantastic.  Bringing me back to the late 80’s/early 90’s death metal sounds.  Terrific!  Some atmospheric elements and the 5 minute mark of the dual guitar melodies is excellent before Lantern romps into a nice slower, groove moment, letting this part breathe right before the quicker part comes in.

“Necrotic Epiphanies” has an awesome opening part reminding me of some of the brutal death/thrash I always loved coming out of the 80’s Brazilian scene.  The beginning reminds me a bit of Vulcano, before the slow part comes in.  Really a killer opening segment.  This is a great tune, although it’s an instrumental, I would have liked some vocals thrown in.  C’mon Lantern, it’s been 4 years since your last album, don’t include an instrumental, but they throw in an interlude, as well, Morphosis, 50 seconds of nothing, really, a waste.  “Lucid Endlessness” closes the album and at over 7 minutes is an epic album closer.  Opening is excellent, fast,death/thrash with some blasting going and with some awesome vocals…..damn I know why I love Necrophilos’ new vocal approach so much, he sounds very similiar, on this to Dave Hewson from Canada’s legendary and one of my favorite bands of all time-Slaughter!  Totally, whew, glad I got that figured out.  This song even has some primitive sounding Slaughter like blasting moments and is definitely one of the strongest Lantern songs, if not my favorite from them.

So there  you have it folks.  Lantern incorporating more of a death/thrash sound to their repertoire, as opposed to black metallish moments.  II: Morphosis is organic and real natural sounding music.  This is one of those rare gem bands, where honestly, aside from Slaughter and some other sounds, Lantern is above all else…Original.  If you’re looking for a crystal clear and pristine sounding album with computerized drums (Hey I love that style of dm too), you may be barking up the wrong tree.  If you’re looking for something new and different and just plain kick ass death metal look no further than Lantern’s newest album.  And the album cover..good Dark Lord Almighty, the best album cover of the year, thus far.  The penmanship/ink drawing is stunning to say the least.  Ok, thus far, this is one of the best death metal albums for 2017.  Get off your arse and buy this without hesitation!

Lantern has a little bit in common with most of the names above. Massive, off kilter, cavernous, aggressive Death Metal that pays homage to its forbearers, while grinding a path all its own. It is all here, the chugging, the leads, the growls, the stomping bass drums, everything you could want in a Death Metal release has found its way into Below. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the most distinctive characteristics of the album itself, the production.

Foregoing the typical bestial production of most modern Death Metal, Lantern opened everything up with massive amounts of reverb, and made things sound like they were recorded in a dank and filthy cave. It sounds like any number of mid-nineties classics, but right off the bat I hear similarities to Cryptopsy’s None So Vile, or Suffocation’s Effigies of the Forgotten. Keep in mind it is not overly technical or brutal like those, but the uncompressed and honest sound makes it feel like a classic you somehow missed 15 years ago. (I’m trying to steer clear of all of the Death comparisons everyone else has made, but let’s face it, you think masterful early 90’s metal, you think Death.)

The very first riff of album opener “Rites of Descent” is catchy. Not catchy like you’ll be humming its melody for 2 days like an At the Gates song, but more so it gets stuck in your head like a botfly larvae that’s been laid in your skin and slowly creates a vile open wound, and you can’t get it out unless you suffocate the disgusting creature. The fourth track, “Manifesting Shambolic Aura” does this again. Opening with a memorable riff, and then blasting into furious clamor for the rest of the four minutes. The huge dive-bombs, the perfectly executed solo at 2:10, and the descent into the slow agony that closes the song, and that is pretty much the entire album. Riff after filthy riff that is sometimes bludgeoning, sometimes dissonant, and always maddening.

Yet another astonishing aspect of Below is that only two musicians had their hands in creating it. Necrophilos handles the vocals, and though they’re pretty much old school shouted grunts, he has a really great ability to add character and range where needed for effect. Cruciatus though is the real shocker here because he mans ALL of the instruments. He has a fantastic ear for macabre imperfection. Nothing falls off here, there are no timing issues, nothing is sloppy, but when the aggression really kicks in, it sounds like he is playing with all of his being and the wheels could fly off at any moment.

That is one of the true trademarks of a young band making the art they’re passionate about, they’re almost always at their best when the songs are screaming to get out and the recording can barely contain them. If Lantern sticks around for 10 more years and releases a few more awesome albums, Below is likely still going to be the fan favorite. It has the urgency that all great records seem to possess, and all of the earmarks of that record everyone talks about when they say “I liked their older stuff better.”