The Lion's Daughter | facebook | twitter | bandcamp |
Released on January 8, 2016 via Season of Mist
The Lion’s Daughter is a trio based out of Missouri, and to pack a punch onto the dawning days of 2016 is Existence Is Horror, their debut on Season of Mist Records. It’s an offering of hate fuelled sludge and post-metal undertones that is certain to leave a lasting impression in the running’s for this year’s metal output.
The band are no strangers to this sound, Neurosis echoes throughout this project; influences are channeled and executed in a tight and cohesive form. Their crashing example of this genre is indeed commendable; the drumming remains interesting whilst pummelling throughout the record and the guitar work explores some intriguing sounds and melodies, refreshing among the pretty much constant barrage of riffs and distortion.
This unique riff work is prominent on tracks like ‘Midnight Glass’ where the guitars can switch from heavy tones to spacious melodies, it allows for a truly diverse experience that leaves a lot to be unexpected as the record thunders on. ‘Nothing Lies Ahead’ is another track that stands out due to its creative guitar integration, a dissonant rising melody serves as the initial introduction and manages to sound enchanting but fit in with the overall menace in the atmosphere the music creates.
That is definitely something of note with the sound the band brings to the table on this record; the inescapable notion of disparity. Despite how much technicality is going on musically, the result remains to be that of sheer darkness and sorrow, a feeling that remains with you as the drums continuously bash your skull and Rick Giordano’s demanding vocals shred through the fray. The vocals are greatly impassioned as is expected with this style, though nothing completely new, they provide strength in delivering that notion of despair within the lyrical content.
The Lion’s Daughter are a band on the path to contributing a refreshing take on the underground of heavy music. This latest record may not be their full capacity yet, but it is a solid release nonetheless. With its inclusion of vast electronic sounds that is carefully laced in to the web of musical skill, Existence Is Horror brings forth a highly intricate effort of blackened sludge infused with aspects of death metal and just all out heaviness. Multiple listens are required to pick apart the dissonant and hammering metal that is displayed here, but this record provides a solid start to the world of more progressive and pummelling sounds sure to come in 2016.
