Since I’ve been writing for 20 years now, all thanks to Commercial Music Forum for which I had to write five concert reviews, it got the ball rolling during my nine-year ride (2005-2014) at the formerly known Houston Community College which is now Houston City College, it was where I found my niche in doing reviews. Music has always been a passion whenever I would go into my room, put on an album that has been the soundtrack of my life, and has kept me in my earphones for the rest of eternity.
When it comes to Lunatic Soul, I have been always up for challenges when it comes to bands and artists who have taken the leap forward to go into other territories that are electronic, avant-garde, in your face, post-rock, and at times death metal. While I’m not the biggest expert on Lunatic Soul’s music, which is another side-project from Riverside guitarist Mariusz Duda who had founded it back in 2008, it explores the passageways in the warmer paths that surrounds us on The World Under Unsun.
Following it up to their 2020 release Through Shaded Woods which at the time we were in lockdown, during the pandemic, The World Under Unsun represents the final story, The Circle of Life and Death which takes place between 2017’s Fractured and 2014’s Walking on a Flashlight Beam. The intense environment pulls you in as if Duda himself is taking you underneath the rubble and revealing the nightmarish details which are about to unfold behind such tracks including the ‘Loop of Fate’ and being free from the muddled dystopian worlds and reaching for the light at the end of the tunnel after being ‘Torn in Two’.
You could feel the pouring love, the loss of a true innocent vibe in the mournful piano arrangement that hits you so hard over the love and the tragic details that are about to unfold. When I think of ‘The Prophecy’ it has a tip of the hat to Norway’s own Gazpacho which takes place during the Demons-era with its nod to ‘The Wizard of Altai Mountains’ flown into the dark, grey clouds that are approaching whilst ‘Good Memories Don’t Want to Die’ sees the post-apocalyptic wasteland unfolding in front of the listener’s eyes with its classical orientation.
The 7-minute atmospheric wonders on ‘Hands Made of Lead’ sees Duda walking into the worlds of kosmische musik and Gabriel’s score to films. Think if you will, Popol Vuh serving tea to Vangelis (Blade Runner period) and the Rubycon-era from Tangerine Dream working together creating this intense new wave approach with pounding riffs, and an incredible rhythm section kicking it well together, with amazing chemistry.
When I say that, I say imagine them recording this track in the middle of a heavy snowstorm in an English cottage outside of Sheffield, with loads of groceries, plant-based diet, and blending it well to make it through the storm with a blaring sax out in the distance. Then, it’s the galloping ride into the sunset as Duda imagines himself in a futuristic Spaghetti western, with pounding drums, shuffling guitars, Oldfield-like lyrical boundaries with a Bowie settling during the Berlin period, and searching for the inner self on ‘Ardour’.
If you think this is the dreaded fucking Star Wars franchise, it ain’t. This is his nod to Alejandro Jordorowsky’s El Topo, Heavy Metal magazine, and the man with no name starring Clint Eastwood. He’s pushing the envelope as far as he can go. I have to give Sid Smith credit for playing this music on his podcast which I would listen to at times called Podcasts from the Yellow Room many years ago.
He played one of their tracks back in 2011 including other bands and artists such as Levin Torn White, Syd Arthur, and Jackie Oates to name a few. Then I completely forgotten about Lunatic Soul until hearing them again this year. But The World Under Unsun is definitely an ultimate trip by delving into with multiple listens to see what you’ve been missing, and be prepared to walk into a world where everything becomes Duda’s storytelling wonder if you dare enter.
