LUTEMKRAT

Upon entering into the journey that is ‘The Last Survivor’ one is confronted by a beautiful piece of music only to have that trashed by the awesome exploding intro riff and blast beating of ‘Silent Death’. If you are going to make a first impression, this is the way to do it! Throughout the next songs, the guitars are penetrating and the voice, ethereal. There are no distinct hooks to the songs and some may find this a bit off putting but not yours truly. Nor am I personally one for the "eternal despair type darker than dark" lyrics but the vocal delivery becomes completely captivating, making the listener wonder what is next. This is becoming a very good CD. Lutemkrat hails from a very dark place indeed. Aside that he cometh from Canada, although this has a very Norwegian feel to it, proving that you don’t have to hail from Oslo to produce authentic and real dark Black Metal. Clearly Lutemkrat is passionate about his early reaches into the genre. The album is reticent of 1349's ‘Hellfire’ and early Darkthrone and Emperor albums. This is no bad thing and, considering this is a solo project, it is quite finely constructed, executed, mixed and produced. Standout tracks for me include ‘Silent Death’ (the opening track), ‘Vengeance’ (particularly the staccatoed guitar breaks) and the first half of ‘Awaiting The Final Breath’. Having read the accompanying press pack and other reviews before I started the disc, I whole heartedly agree with them. Lutemkrat has achieved a very difficult thing - extreme dark black metal that isn't dull. If you like your black metal black, you could do no worse than this album.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Bleak Art Records

Album

THE LAST SURVIVOR

Review by Paul Etcell

RUNNING TIME:

42:49

RELEASE DATE:

19th Sept 2007

TRACK LISTING

1) Intro: Arising
2) Silent Death
3) The Last Survivor
4) Vengeance
5) Awaiting the Final Breath
6) Journey Through Inner Landscapes
7) Grieving Over the Dead
8) Outro: Surviving

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Brazil

"Lutemkrat has achieved a very difficult thing - extreme dark black metal that isn't dull. If you like your black metal black, you could do no worse than this album."