Aluk Todolo — Lux
French occult rock legends Aluk Todolo returned to action on September 6th with their new album, Lux, recorded during the summer of 2023 Lux becomes the band’s fifth studio album, their first since 2015s VOIX. The album was recorded, mixed, mastered, cut and pressed using all analogue equipment to give it that authentic 70s occult rock feel. I am very tempted to pick up the vinyl release for this to hear just how good it sounds on what is the most appropriate format.
The album itself features 6 tracks labelled on the album as a series of dots and dashes, however, for the purpose of this review I shall refer to them as Lux 1-6. "Lux 1" is a short (for Aluk Todolo) track that acts as a scene setter for what is to follow. "Lux 2", the longest track on the album at over 9 minutes long really cranks the guitar to the next level, psychedelic and hypnotic grooves are plentiful as the band quickly settle into their own overdriven guitar-drenched furrow. Noisy and at times off-kilter it’s a monstrous opener that acts to open the floodgates for what follows. "Lux 3" follows in much the same vein, uptempo, hypnotic rock, tinged with a hint of psychedelia and some Link Wray style distorted surf rock guitar licks. "Lux 4" takes the tempo down a notch or two from the more frantic sounding openers, but still fits perfectly into the overall sound. "Lux 5" on the other hand breaks with that sound for something more expansive and psychedelic, the influence of traditional Indian music can be felt here as the band feel as though they’ve broken away from the surf guitar licks for something much more aligned with the German Kosmische bands of the 1970s or for a modern take on things, Sylvester Anfang II. The album closer "Lux 6" follows in that same modern-day kosmische groove, taking things down a notch or two when needed to create quieter moments before erupting again in a lysergic haze of distortion.
Lux is a fantastic record, a dark masterpiece of modern-day kosmische tinged with Link Wray-esque guitar playing and a dark doom-laden rhythm section. It’s really nice to see how much they’ve grown and developed as a band since I was introduced to them through the album Occult Rock in 2012 and after seeing them perform live as support to Stephen O’Malley. The sound is less intense today, but has more flavour to it and features more of a groove, you get the feeling they feel freer as musicians to go with their instincts and they’re loving that newfound freedom. If you love good, noisy, cosmic, doom-laden occultic vibes, then Lux is definitely for you.