Find the coverage and some great photos of this year's Devilstone Open Air written by our Lithuanian contributor Inga here>> www
Death metal is such a limitless genre. You can do whatever you'd like. It can be over the top technical or slow. Brutal or insane and it's all so good. When we made "Visions of Death" it just came out with a natural old school-ish vibe and that's great, but our newer material has a much more modern technical vibe. I love how death metal has evolved.
For me, death metal should be heavy as fuck, brutal (which doesn't necessarily mean "fast"), atmospheric and evil. If the "evil" thing is not there, you can't label yourself death metal, that's a fact. I'm so fucking close minded when it comes to metal music... I listen to the SAME hard rock, heavy, thrash, doom, death and black metal that I used to listen to 15 years ago.
Atmospheric pagan sounding black metal which is rooted in old school Nordic black metal. Despite hailing from Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) Black Lotus sounds distinctively Scandinavian like Arcturus, Borknagar, Kvist, Obtained Enslavement and Vintersorg on their earliest outings. Vocals were provided by ex-Fluisterwoud bassist Jasper v.d. Veen whose wide range of vocals give this record an epic touch. Be it clean vocals, black metal rasps or a semi-grunt v.d. Veen pulls it off well. "Harvest Of Seasons" is blessed with exceptionally strong songwriting as each track goes through a number of twists and turns seamlessly, resulting in a natural flowing album as a whole. The contrast of harsh and clean vocals, midpaced and fast sections and the use of electric - and acoustic guitars make Black Lotus one of the most promising additions to the scene. Four of the songs included are each devoted to one of the seasons. Each track is as epic and majestic sounding as the next and Black Lotus have found the ideal balance between pagan - and progressive melodies, straightforward black metal aggression and symphonic elements. Recorded at Infinity Studios in April-May 2008 in Victoria, British Columbia by Adam Sutherland, Jason Robertson & David Parfit. Mixed and mastered at Ground Zero Studios during August 2008 in Zutphen, the Netherlands by Pascal Altena. Artwork, design and layout by Lindsay A. Kerr can easily compete with the big names of this genre.http://www.blacklotusmusic.netcomment itWouter 8
