Lantern — Below

Finnish death metal duo Lantern arose from the ashes of Cacodaemon in 2007. Proving you can't keep a good metaller down, Cruciatus got former bandmate Necrophilos on board and started working on material. After two demos and an EP, Lantern released their first LP, Below. Two piece death metal acts tend to skate on the thin sounding side, but Lantern avoided this common mishap. With Cruciatus on the instruments and Necrophilos handling the vocals, the boys manage to put out a full, solid album.

With Lantern hailing from Finland, there was a definite tone I was expecting from the guitars, but it wasn't there. Its absence made me appreciate the album more. Instead of hearing Entombed and Dismember, I hear Death, Incantation, and Sepultura. Lantern also avoids the current death metal trend of super clean, super fast, super boring songs. The tracks are mid to fast paced death with really well placed breakdowns. The vocals are gruff, but semi-clean (I think this is where my Sepultura thoughts come from) with a bit of an echo on them. The recording itself is a bit on the fuzzy side, but far from lo-fi. I feel that this helps to artificially age the music. The only downer for me is the bass. You know it's there, but it's more of a feeling than a being. There is some audible chug on "From the Ruins," but other than that, it's just low sound.

While most of the tracks are average length, there are two long ones (7:28 and 9:08), but they rock well enough that they don't feel their length. The album is on the shorter side (39+ mins) and that works to its advantage. All the songs work really well together and make Below really solid. I don't think I would feel the same if this neared 60 minutes.

Below is a really solid death metal album. Not only does it make me want to check out their EP, Subterranean Effulgence, but it also makes me want to dig out some of my old cds that I haven't listened to in ages. Lantern really surprised me, and I am liking this album more on each listen.