Wednesday 3 May 2017

Lotus Ash - The Evening Redness (Album Review)


Release date: April 14th 2017. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD

The Evening Redness – Tracklisting

1.Man's Purpose: War 02:10
2.But War Is God 08:14
3.Sometimes Comes The Wolf 06:54
4.Unto Stone 07:00
5.Breadth Of The Horizon 06:50
6.The Evening Redness 08:43
7.Regression 04:03

Members:

Nick Willkomm - Guitar
Mike Stich - Guitar
Kyle O'Donnell - Bass
Brian Brown- Drums
Nick Elert (Studio) - Synth

Review

Lotus Ash returns with their new album - The Evening Redness. Two years after they released their debut album - The Word Of God. Back then, the band had a vocalist though this time round they're primarily an instrumental doom/sludge metal band. I was hesitant in checking this album out as one of my favourite aspects of their debut album was the vocals. I needn't have worried as Lotus Ash new album is a creepy and startling vision where sludge/doom riffs combine with ambient noises creating an unsettling atmosphere.

Opening track - Men's Purpose War - offers a nightmarish sound with haunting elements of distorted drone based doom and gloom theatrics.

Second track - But War Is God - returns slightly to the bands sounds created on their debut album but with a more despairing psychedelic sludge outlook on life. The progressive delivery of the music adds a more chaotic affair. This is perhaps the only song on the album that I would have preferred to have vocals as it's an interesting and forward thinking style of instrumental based of music.

Third track - Sometimes Comes The Wolf - carries on the depressing feel of the previous song with the band becoming slightly more comfortable with their gloomy sludge based riffs. The band manages to create their own sound and manage not to take influence from their more famous contemparies within the Instrumental Doom/Sludge metal field.

The album holds your attention from the start as Lotus Ash creates different sounds on each of the songs. So most of the songs sound different to each other. Other great songs to check out are: Unto Stone, Breadth Of The Horizon, The Evening Redness and Regression.

The album won't be for everyone as it's quite a dark musical odyssey. It doesn't have your upbeat moments of Post-Rock/Post-Metal that bands such as Pelican and Russian Circles have. The Evening Redness is superbly produced with the heavy riffs leaving a lasting impression. Whilst, The Evening Redness is a great album to listen to, I still prefer their debut album as it's more my style of music. Though I applaud Lotus Ash for going down a different route with this album.

The Evening Redness is a thought-provoking and bleak sounding album. Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

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