Metal Debate Album Review - Ex Umbra In Lucem (Lamentari)

The Great Metal Debate Podcast

Welcome The Great Metal Debate podcast, bringing you another release straight from the underground. Today, we will he talking about the debut album Ex Umbra In Lucem from the symphonic blackened death metal band Lamentari. This Denmark based band has released 3 EPs and 2 singles before dropping their first full-length record and I'm going to say straight from the get-go, this is exactly the type of metal I crave. It was a little over a month ago when I discovered this band on YouTube. The music video for the song "Dolorum Memoria". The album opens with an angelic choir in the intro track "Spiritus Noctus" before pummeling you with the song "Tenebrae". It's a bombastic track that will give you a small taste of what's to come. The choir continues throughout this track and returns during many moments throughout this whole album. "Tragoedia In Domo Dei" has thunderous opening double bass blastbeats which goes straight into the symphonic sound. The element of brass instrumentation, strings and choir make it a near perfect listening experience. Once it passes the 2:50 mark in the song, we get an acoustic guitar moment with a bass riff that sounds just like something straight out of technical death metal. It reminded me so much of Obscura and Beyond Creation that I checked to see if Jamie de la Sencerie had an 8 string fretless. But no, he is making that sound with a regular 4 string. The tempo picks back up again at around 4:30 stamp. The harmonizing choir is hypnotic and easily rivals what Septicflesh has been doing all these years but with a more melodic black metal style. At the same time, none of Lamentari's music sounds derivative. Instead it all feels fresh and original. I love how Thomas' drums sound both loud in the mix but at the same time it doesn't over power the rest of the music. "Intra Muros Mentis" immediately begins with some electric guitar sweeps for the first 30 seconds before exploding into that somewhat traditional black metal sound. Except the rhythm guitar remains audible without the obnoxious buzzsaw riff, all thanks to the shredding by guitarist Michael Møller. The lead guitarist Emil is also another standout member of this impressive band. Onto a very upbeat track we have "Appugno" which continues on that path to greatness. To me, Lamentari is a real treasure of band who knows how to be simultaneously fast but melodic in the most symphonic way possible. It's truly rare to get real talented musicians like this who are new to their craft but seem to be master composers. Then we get to the song "Dolorum Memoria" which is the music video I mentioned at the start of this review. This whole album is a very strong contender for Album of the Year but if for some reason it doesn't end up being #1, this song is definitely song of the year. I absolutely adore these acoustic guitars and whisper vocals. This 8 minute long masterpiece will make you close your eyes and really listen and relax. The calmness continues into this album's 2nd instrumental which serves as a soothing prelude to the final track. "Spiritus Diurnus" has the church-like choir once more but has the perfect classical music violin strings which turn into what can be best described as a Hans Zimmer score for a Christopher Nolan film. Too bad its only 1:27. the closer to this breathtaking album is a 7 in a half minute long track titled "Arcanum Ignis Animae". I will say as a very minor critique, I feel like Daniel Lønberg's vocals could use just a little bit of work. If he could maintain the deeper style more often like he did in the song "Dolorum Memoria", I could enjoy this record even more than I already am. I'm going to score Lamentari - Ex Umbra In Lucem with a glorious 9/10 rating. Be sure to follow Lamentari on Facebook. All of their music is on bandcamp but their t-shirt and vinyl record is available at merchcity.com