Lord Dying – Summon the Faithless Review

Lord Dying // Summon the Faithless
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Consider yourselves summoned oh faithless ones!
Label: Relapse Records
Websites:
facebook.com/LordDying | myspace.com/LordDying
Release Dates: Out now!

Lord Dying2It’s all about the modes of production. Our own lives follow prearranged paths and are shaped around certain dynamics; we are not even ‘what’ we produce, but rather ‘how much’ we render to society. And it all goes in circles. The past is gone but we cling to it and although we sometimes deny its intrinsic value, we end up imitating its excesses. Ever played Earth, Wind & Fire in your car stereo? Of course not! But only those who don’t own a car can be trusted when they say they didn’t zap when Daft Punk’s horrific, ghastly latest single horribly graced their radio’s frequencies. The same goes with metal. There is nothing new and what is new is not metal. Therefore Lord Dying have spawned a great record.

Seriously: are you, just like yours truly, an adrenaline junkie who’s not happy with what the likes of Black Dahlia Murder and Amon Amarth have recently delivered? Has your body grown used to that dosage and you want more? Well, try this! Summon the Faithless’ mixture of doom, sludge and, hold yourself tight, thrash metal can give you what you’re looking for [Don’t be a thrash basher!!Steel Druhm]. By listening to Lord Dying’s (un-)new assembly, one gets the idea that fresh music can come from mixing and shaking the old and stale brands. If one knows how to use a blender, of course.

And Lord Dying, from Portland, Oregon, sure know how to choose the best for you, all so that you don’t have to waste your time listening to horrible music. “Water Under a Burning Bridge”, “Descend Into External” and “Greed Is Your Horse”, for instance, manage to condense a wide (very wide) range of influences into what can be considered a very personal take on the last 30 years of metal. Influences are too many to be mentioned here, but if you listen to the right kind of stuff and you like your metal filthy and produced by an engineer who knows his place in the studio, then you should definitely listen to this album.

Lord DyingWhat’s interesting here is that the rawness is somehow balanced by a certain depth vaguely reminiscent of Mastodon’s early works. There is violence, but the band gives the impression of being able to fully control its effects. There is never ‘too much’ of anything on Summon the Faithless, but, on the contrary, the aforementioned mixture is wisely administered throughout the album as if this weren’t Lord Dying’s debut.

Let us be completely honest: this band is somehow still far from releasing its full potential. We, at Angry Metal Guy, will keep on looking for great music but, in the meantime, sit tight and give these guys a try and they will keep you busy for a while*. What this album teaches us is that the only way to escape the routine is not to break it, but to reinvent it. Just keep it heavy.

* if not, click here

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