Lychgate – s/t (Gilead Media, 2013)

For some time now, Gilead Media has been working to establish itself as the go-to label for interesting and innovative US black metal. Now, having decimated the competition in that particular niche, the label makes its maiden voyage outside the confines of USBM in the form of Lychgate, a UK-based band featuring current and former members of such luminaries as Esoteric, Lunar Aurora and The One. This would typically be the part where we throw around the term “supergroup” and debate its questionable merits, but I’ve got a better idea. How ’bout we skip all that rubbish and you just trust me when I say that Lychgate’s self-titled debut album is pretty fucking super? Sound good? Ok then, let us proceed…

Lychgate’s style of black metal is highly ornate and just a little bit twisted; this is the second wave-style BM you’ve come to know and love to be sure, but there’s something about it that’s slightly off-kilter in the best way possible. Much of it probably has something to do with the creepy funeral parlor organ that pops up throughout the record, lending it a quasi-psychedelic, blackened Iron Butterfly vibe. Or maybe it’s the fact that there are parts of the album that actually sound uplifting to my ears, at least musically speaking; I don’t have access to the lyrics, so it’s entirely possible that the parts I think are uplifting actually feature lyrics about offing yourself. Either way, there is an unorthodox originality and attention to detail at work here within the confines of an established form that makes the album one of the year’s most pleasant surprises.

As one might expect from a band featuring a member of Esoteric (guitarist/vocalist Greg Chandler), Lychgate does delve into doomy passages on occasion, but never approaches the glacially paced ultra-doom of the former. Doom is simply another texture here rather than the focal point, much like the use of pinch-harmonics that sound like they wouldn’t be out of place on a Dying Fetus album or the or the occasional deep, cavernous vocals that could’ve come from any number of bands aligning themselves with the Incantation school of murk and mayhem. Make no mistake, Lychgate is a black metal record through and through, but the band isn’t afraid to pick and choose the best parts of other genres and incorporate them in an unobtrusive manner.

This is one of the those albums that reveals new sounds with every spin, and clocking in at less than forty minutes means you’re much more likely to hit the “play” button again as soon as it’s over. Indeed, Lychgate has crafted an enthralling recording that manages to sound progressive but at the same time leaves you wanting more, thanks both to its easily digestible length and the band’s exquisite songwriting chops. I have to hand it to Gilead Media for picking one hell of an album for their first foray into international black metal, and I hope that Lychgate isn’t just a one-off for these musicians, because it’s evident that there’s a shitload of potential here. More, please.

http://www.gileadmedia.net/