Lantern II: Morphosis (2017)

Lantern's 2013 debut Below was one of those debut full-lengths so stacked with both subtle and overt qualities and flavors that it'd inevitably ramp up expectations for anything the Finns might follow it up with. An excellent permutation of the cavernous death metal that has been all the rage these last 5-10 years, it's application of both murk and melody into an unnerving but fulfilling whole set it apart from the lion's share of Incanta-clones who were becoming redundant despite their best intentions. II: Morphosis doesn't quite have the ability to take any listener by surprise the way its elder sibling did, so the duo of Cruciatus and Necrophilos just settled for concocting a damn fine, atmospheric death metal record which replicated most of the strengths of its predecessor but did not by any means clone it entirely. Thus you've got a sophomore which is almost guaranteed to satisfy listeners of records like last year's Blood Incantation full length, Starspawn, in fashioning reliable and well written death metal riff progressions into something of which the sum just feels greater than any individual parts.

Morphosis is not just some roiling, teething, subterranean sounding morass with guttural vocals and no ambition, but instead a sprawling and balanced offering which exceeds the maturity you'd expect after just a few years. The rhythm guitars are less ominous and far busier, the tone straightforward and dry but capable of translating the massive riff set splayed out across the 40 minutes. While they don't perform material which could technically be considered complex, the album nonetheless creates a labyrinthine intensity which never hinges on the predictable. While there are riff patterns in here which might straddle everything from prototype 90s melodic death metal to Scandinavian blackness, the bulk of the chord selections almost felt like a mash-up of the first three Morbid Angel records, with all the speed and hooks of the first and third, with the occasionally slogging malevolence that many associate with the second. Melodies aren't just employed as cheap gimmicks, but often these essential and ritualistic sequences of songs that are often left to their own while light percussion rattles off as accompaniment. They are also prone to a few abrupt stops and starts and occasionally fly off the handle into more chaotic, frenzied moments where there is just enough control that the record hasn't felt like it's gone over the edge into the abyss without a pilot.

The ability to soundscape an atmosphere through the conventional death metal milieu here is just astounding, as in the escalation in the shorter tune "Hosting Yellow Fungi", or the mournful maze of "Necrotic Epiphanies" with all its wailing excess and double kick mashing fury. Lantern take the familiar and reinvigorate by giving it greater breadth and dimension. The vocals aren't just some utterly deep gurgle, but more of a hacked, angry, atmospheric take on something like Barney Greenway meets Steve Tucker only with tons of shrieking and raving for variety. The flexibility of the drumming allows the material to thrive at any speed, whether it's verging on grind or just the more robust, melodic and measured passages. There's also this feeling I got that the record was gradually becoming more immersive and memorable as it progressed, so by the finale "Lucid Endlessness" I felt like I was really hearing the best stuff on the whole album, rapid riffing and dissonant waves spiraling into my ears, until it hits that great, slow and groovy bridge that just carried it off into the nether. Intentional or not, this is a rare reaction I get to an album where it starts off good but then just evolves into blockbuster territory.

All that praise aside, I found it marginally less compelling and resonant than Below, if only because I felt like I connected to that debut's eeriness and its particular melodies slightly more. I imagine for many listeners, it will easily compensate with its more substantial and urgent sense of ambition and its tighter pendulum of structure and chaos; yet I wasn't quite hypnotized as often in listening though. But really we're dealing with apples and oranges, because this band is still at the very summit of the Finnish death metal scene of the present, with so much to offer, a true torchbearer for their forebears like Demilich, Demigod, or Convulsed, only sounding very little like any of those, with a lot more of a US influence to their composition split between the genre's Florida and New York founders. The fact is that Lantern use that simply as a foundation. Where they go with it is anyone's guess, and two full-length records in, they show more practice and potential than a lot of bands with decades more experience, crafting great death metal worthy of the howling planes of Pandemonium.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/lantern666

Lantern - Below (2013)

If the Subterranean Effulgence EP (2011) made anything clear to me, it was that someone had finally concocted an effective soundtrack to the 1978 published Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure Tomb of Horrors. Okay, so that might not 'technically' be the theme behind these Finns' music, but between the black & white cover art, which looked a lot like the visual aids included in the module, and the oppressive and mysterious subterranean atmosphere which felt more 'dungeon' than 'cavern', and the fact he band is called Lantern, which is as everyone knows the human dungeon crawlers' most important tool (neither a sword or spellbook will be much use in the dark), you can forgive me for drawing that conclusion. That said, I was only borderline impressed with my initial exposure...but their first full-length Below, has capitalized upon my favorable reaction ever since I started listening through it last year, and gone a lot further towards ranking the duo among my favorite of the 21st century death metal claustrophobes.

It doesn't hurt that the band's sense for melodic endowment reminds me of the American one-man act The Wakedead Gathering, who I often rave about, but Lantern definitely has its own thing happening with regards to pacing and rhythm guitar composition. Warmer floods of chords are often incorporated into more dissonant, chaotic and faster paced passages which give off a playful, carnival black metal vibe despite the morbid surface level of the music. Creepy, descending little harmonies, busy songwriting which entirely eschews the basic and oft boring riff tenets that plague a lot of the Incantation/Autopsy derived death metal, and a great level of contrast between the more intense passages and atmospheric calms. The drums have this concise, popping feel to them which I found worked wondrously against the thicker, coiled and springy thickness of the chords, exotic wailing of the lush lead guitars and even the lavish, brief droning guitar segues which provide a multi-faceted soundscape undercurrent when the metal subsides. Another fantastic choice here was the T.G. Warrior-meets-earlier-Johan Edlund bark of the vocalist, dowsed in reverb and echo and constantly reminding us we're in some underground space, unearthing the mysteries of our forebears, or worse...some malevolent, ancient civilization.

The way he and those striking melodies set up "Revenant" should have just about anyone who is not yet fully jaded on this style hooked right through the...gill...no, that doesn't work. Whatever troglodytes have that you could stick a sharp metal object through! Warlike fills, incredibly lyrics, tasteful and nuanced chugging segments, and a juicy bass-line always hovering beneath the rich fermented rhythm guitars. I also enjoyed that for a somewhat concise, 40 minutes and seven tracks, there was such a degree of distinction between individual tunes, in both length, tempo and note choices. This was well planned, well executed, and frankly I'm ashamed of myself for only giving it a cursory 2-3 listens when it first was released last May. It's one of those records which I seem to appreciate more with each listen, even to the point that I like it more this late in the review than when I first started. Impressive material which transcends the monotony and disaffection with which a lot of musicians tend to use as a treatment for their old school death metal fixes. This is voyeurism into the deep dark, your only guide a glass-enshrouded, temporary flame which could blink out at any moment if you've not come prepared with additional flasks of oil. Keep thy weapon in hand, adventurer, for there are deadly magical traps around every corner, and a particular demilich somewhere below, whose dusty bones grow anxious for a victim with each passing decade...awesome record!

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10] (As your blood dreams)

https://www.facebook.com/lantern666

Lantern - Subterranean Effulgence EP (2011)

Lantern are another of these many newer bands who load on the reverb and perform a decidedly old school variation on the death metal genre. I've taken to calling the style 'cavern core', and I would certainly consider these Finns a part of that movement, however there are some individual characteristics to this EP that set them slightly apart from many of their peers. For one, they use quite a lot more blasted rhythms and tremolo guitars than many others who explore this subterranean nightmare niche, and thus one can detect a subtle hint of black metal coursing in their blood. Also, they create some unexpected and somewhat unusual patterns in the guitars like the melodies in the center of "Revert the Living into Death" which are functionally hypnotic, drawing the listener deeper into their world until each remaining light of hope is snuffed out.

Let's be clear: Lantern plays faster death metal in general. This is not some slow, sludging crawl through the spaces below, and it's not a direct Incantation or Autopsy knockoff like so many others in this field. You can hear traces of their Finnish forefathers like Abhorrence, Convulse and Demigod, with the broad, harrowing vocals one usually associates with early Entombed or their Swedish contemporaries of the 90s, maybe a fraction deeper. Saturated in reverb and dense, deep guitars whose rhythmic patterns often become lost in the atmosphere itself, they present a different option to those seeking underground escape from the tumult of their surface lives. I wouldn't call all the tracks here equally absorbing, but certainly "Ritual Unearthing" and "Slumbering Dying Dreams" have their moments, and some credit should be awarded that the Finns don't endlessly recycle themselves. The drums and guitars are solid, and they vary up the riffs just enough so you don't sink into sodden ennui.

Subterranean Effulgence is not quite the best of this style that I've heard in the past few years, but they do well to cross their Swedish and Finnish forefathers with the more ominous, archaic US influences. As a sampling of their ability, the EP proves the band has the dynamic range and chops to possibly survive when this whole tide boils over and people have moved on to the next wave. I kind of enjoy their simplistic logo, cover graphics and the morbid, funereal lyrics. They could probably mix in a few extra, slower rhythms to great effect, but I laud their ability to craft their serpentine, bewitching melodies above the darkened din of the rhythmic structures, and thus am looking forward to a full-length. In the meantime, I'd urge fans of groups like Miasmal, Entrails, Cruciamentum, Grave Miasma and so forth to dig around for this and see what they think.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://lantern.dy.fi/