Italy’s Lectern are a sort of a unique bunch, but not for the reasons you may be expecting but we will get to that a bit later in our review. Musically they are a fairly standard death metal band, they have all the bases covered, giving you a good cross section of early Decide, touches of Jungle Rot death groove and some of the more mood driven plodding, intensity of Incantation via the Diabolical Conquest / Daniel Corchado era. Plenty of standardized death metal riffing that will set heads a banging with furious intensity. Deep roaring vocals in the Glen Benton vein but with better clarity.

As for musicianship and the songs themselves, all are all, for the most part,  paint by numbers death metal. Granted there are some moments that do grab you, but it is just that, it’s just for a moment. And even at 9 songs it can be a tad monotonous at times, you may find your attention wandering.  Again not a bad release by any means, grab a earful of opening song, “Palpation of Sacramentarium” and next, “Fluent Bilocation”, both with great structure and intensity so this does give one to wonder why the album as a whole could not be like this. I found myself, the more I listened to this tho, I began to get into it and appreciate the little moments, like the lead melody interplay on “Pellucid” and some of the more thrashy moments on the mid section of “Diptych of Perked Oblation”.

Speaking for myself, the cover artwork alone is just about worth the price of the Cd. Great representation of the band in visual and their lyrical stance. With all the demons, monsters and grotesque images, well, suffice it to say you will not be wondering what you are getting into.

Now onto the unique aspect mentioned of the band. It is the often the quirky,misinterpreted (maybe??) translation of the bands songs. I realize sometimes translation can be a issue and conveying thoughts in your native language is another and problems can arise. But what’s funny is that all song titles seem to not make sense. I stress, I’m not making fun of the band by any means, and it could be I’m missing something  I’m sure those that picked up Carcass – Symphonies of Sickness, back in the day were asking themselves what’s going on here?! with their own song titles.

So, those that may be looking for their continual metal endorphin fix, Lectern may fill that need, they have those great moments of death metal goodness with catchy riffing and musicianship but those looking for innovative,  genre defining moments may need to look elsewhere. Take a chance, not a bad listen.

 

[Visit the band's website]

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