The more post-metal sludge I hear the more convinced I am that it’s sitting at or very near the current evolutionary peak of rock and metal, and there, with one hand firmly grasping the flag as it fights for its share, is Cult of Luna. Nowhere else does music take such opposing forces and join them so harmoniously, often in disharmony, than on this treacherous outcrop of wind- and rain-swept rock that is post-metal.
You probably already know “Vertikal” is Cult of Luna’s first record in five years and that it’s inspired by the film “Metropolis”. Just as the hero of the film discovers the underground world of workers keeping the intelligentsia’s above-ground utopia running smoothly, listening to Vertikal is a voyage of discovery. There are times you will listen to the same song and react completely differently. You will hear things you didn’t notice before- small things. You will find familiar elements in unfamiliar surroundings and watch beauty have its face ripped off before you. Ultimately the record comes full circle with a joining of hands between the opening and closing tracks just as the hero brings the hands and minds together in the film.
Although they both share a strong sense of idealism and fable, the Lang film is very stylised and simplistic whereas “Vertikal” is complex and textured with its thick layering of sounds and myriad stylistic influences. No two songs are that much alike, although melody from the opener does return. The levels of intensity reached are profound and their release just as memorable. Listening is like exploring the nuances of a grimy square of concrete floor in a car park with its texture and subtle variance in shade of grey contrasting with the straight painted lines. These are songs that reach inside you and enslave your emotions with a mixture of brute force and seduction.
Melodies are strong and vary from agonisingly slow to mid-tempo, soft and gentle to violent and harsh. These shifts occur during and between songs and with differing rates of abruptness, although the trigger is more likely to be pulled hard than squeezed. There is extensive use of a heartbeat, though it’s not always of a living being, and “Vertikal” plunges to some wonderfully dark depths.
This is not a perfect album but it gets damn close. The problem is that ‘I: The Weapon’, ‘Vicarious Redemption’, ‘Mute Departure’, ‘In Awe Of’ and ‘Passing Through’ are just so good that I felt myself waiting for them after the seventh or eighth listen. As a concept album it’s important to maintain the flow and interest while delivering emotional peaks and troughs to tell the story, but this exposes the risk of highs and lows in the listeners’ enjoyment of the songs. I can’t pick a song that doesn’t deserve to be there but unless I’m in the zone when listening it can drag on at one point.
As with so much good post-metal there is a paradoxical marriage of repetition and depth against a minimalist feeling of emptiness, sparseness and solitude. As dark as the record gets it’s not nihilistic and ends on a hopeful note – not some cheery saccharin Disney ending but it does offer a path to a better future. Best of all it’s an ending that makes you want to just leave the music off for a while so you can keep that feeling going for as long as possible. In the end though, you’ll soon be drawn back to the play button to relive the experience.
