The Rock Blogger

Lifelover . Erotik . 2007. 4.5 stars .

Sweden’s Lifelover is one of the most remarkably unique black metal bands to gain recognition, in fact labeling them as ‘black metal’ doesn’t do justice to the experimental, genre-bending sensibility that runs through their work.

On Erotik, we find Lifelover’s aesthetics take on depressive, urban anxiety, moving away from the anti-social spaces of the forest and into dark, depressive city centers. In much the same way that Ulver’s Perdition City pushed them towards progressive structures and electronic sounds, Erotik’ s energy comes from a moody post-punk tradition.

Sinewy bass lines, angular guitars and keyboards provide stark, Gothic tones reminiscent of The Cure, Joy Division and Coil. Even some post-rock instrumentation, often capturing the spirits of Fluerety, Alcest and Mogwai, find their way in here. Deliberately paced, these 12 songs are cinematic in their production and often use samples and disturbing dialog to add to the album’s atmosphere. The anguished vocals range from hushed spoken word to deep bellows to high pitched screams, capturing both the restraint and release of some strange madness.

Conceptually striking, intricately written and passionately performed, Lifelover’s Erotik ranks as one of my favorite discoveries from Scandinavia. If you want something compelling and original while still retaining the expressive darkness of the underground, look no further.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.