Listen, if you guys want me to stop reviewing material from Transcending Obscurity Records, you’re going to have to tell them to calm it down with the excellent new releases…

Don’t, though.

That brings us to the new, excellent album from a band with an intriguing name, The Last of Lucy. I didn’t like it at first, started thinking of all the possibilities behind it, then realized it’s a good one, especially for tech death. Being that 2021 was certainly the best year in tech death that I remember, considering it’s one of my least favorite metal sub-genres and multiple offerings made my year-end list, this album has a slim chance of living up to last year’s lofty expectations.

It does. This is only the Californian quintet’s second album, and it comes across as the work of a veteran band. My immediate comparison with the song and riff structures would be to last year’s Ophidian I album, which barely missed the cut for making my year-end list. If I had listed any honorable mentions, it would have been there.

Like that previously mentioned album, it’s sharp and short. For example, the opening track, the title track, “Moksha.” Brief atmospherics begin the track before some absolutely unhinged vocals take over. Highs and lows emblematic of Aborted or even The Black Dahlia Murder are the name of the game. There’s an all too brief, neck snapping groove with some background symphonics, and it’s over in about 2 minutes.

A spacey sort of intro begins the next one, called “Agni.” Once the music kicks in, there are some Rings of Saturn, almost video game style guitar parts, which are present throughout. Despite the short length of the song and the technicality on display, they still manage to insert a brief hook.

The first few tracks follow a simple method of smacking you around for a couple of minutes, then leaving you to bleed out. “Ritual of the Abraxas,” track 5, still wants to fuck you up, but takes a little longer to do so, being the only track to eclipse 4 minutes. The brief intro helps with this, but it doesn’t take up too much runtime. The groove here is very reminiscent of the band mentioned above, Aborted. The clean guitar parts where one can hear the bass in the background, followed by a quick solo, make this song stand out, but that section is so brief, blink and you’ll miss it. Make no mistake, the rest of the track is still breakneck speed, though.

Obviously much later in the album, the closer “Demiurge,” has another short atmospheric intro. If there’s one critique to be had, this is the case with every single track, yet they don’t develop it into anything besides an intro. Perhaps that’s something to think about next time. Otherwise, this track is a blast fest. On an album that’s barely over 30 minutes, the entire experience flies by, this track included. The end of the album overall hinges on a repeated guitar lead as the rest of the music fades out and it works well.

Unlike my review, this album is to the point. Transcending Obscurity has another winner on its hands, which is no surprise. If you’re into brutal and/or technical death metal, then this is up your alley and I can’t recommend it enough. This one is a lot of fun. As mentioned above, I wish there was more development with the atmospherics and it’s not exactly anything you haven’t heard before, but it’s quite well done.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments