Religious beliefs have always played a huge part in not only the glorious art and architecture of the worshipers but also the products of the irreligionists. London six piece Light Bearer takes the focus of religion to transcend the gap between music and art. Vocalist and artist Alex CF molds literary references with a personal disdain for religion into a wonderfully majestic art form. The whole package, from the stunning artwork to the diverse music and conceptually influenced lyrics, is exciting and engaging.
The idea of a series of concept albums may turn some folks away, but Light Bearer offers it in a very accessible manner. Each part can stand on its own, but when digested as one, the art, the music, and the story truly astound. The songwriting takes the unusual process of following the lyrical content of a book written by the singer. The text is influenced but not expressively reliant on John Milton's “Paradise Lost”, Dante Alighieri's “The Divine Comedy” and Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials”, whose themes all concern the story of Satan being cast out of heaven after his refusal to bow before humanity. (The source may be biblical, but the details are thoroughly literary.)
Whilst the album was created with the words in mind, the vocals do not dominate the music. Songs are allowed to build naturally and the words never rush to advance the point. “Primum Movens” gently weaves a shimmering path before the vocals eventually enter the fray. At this point, the music forms a fierce post-metal edge. The vocals often act as an instrument: they work with the music, or perhaps more accurately, the music works with the screams. The lyrics are hard to pick out of the vocal delivery, but they wrap themselves around the music in a way that makes comprehension irrelevant.
Falling somewhere between post-rock, post-hardcore and post-metal, the music does follow some of the preset criteria, but is played with an intensity that is far from stale regurgitation. Title track “Lapsus” is a monster of a song, twisting from dark to light before mixing them together. The atmospheric flexibility aids the switches of light post-rock to crunching post-hardcore. As the sound spectrums play off one another, one can easily imagine the fight between the forces of good and evil.
A great deal of effort has been put into the stunning design, which makes the purchase of the vinyl especially satisfying. The concepts and ideas on display here can either be ignored or embraced, but the album's selling point is its brooding, impassioned music. With the art, lyrics and music working in tandem, this becomes an impressive project. Lapsus is to be the first of four installments, and if the four pieces are able to work together as well as the elements of the freshman project, we may soon be looking at a classic.
//Huh, to vůbec nevím, že bych kopíroval...
Ale každopádně pěkná recenze.
