The Lion’s Daughter — Future Cult

Hailing from the city of St Louis in Missouri, The Lion’s Daughter released this their third full length album in July of this year. The band were formed in 2007 by vocalist/guitarist Rick Giordano, drummer Erik Ramsier, and bassist/vocalist Scott Fogelbach. Extreme in nature, the band utilise influences from across the metal spectrum, and have an excellent reputation as a live act, having played with such legendary bands as High on Fire, Behemoth, Pig Destroyer, Nachtmystium and Dark Funeral to name just a few. This latest release marks a new chapter in the band’s development as they take on board new ideas and augment their sound further with the inclusion of keyboards, a move that often sucks the life out of extreme metal bands, however in this instance it has done quite the opposite. Let’s get down to the review.

The album opens with the title track “Future Cult”, and after a synth lead proggy opening, that reminds me somewhat of the band Astra the track erupts into life. The influence of classic black metal and post-hardcore bands like Converge is there for all to see and hear. This is a short sharp shock to the system after the melodic opening, but it works well. This is obviously a tight, talented bunch of musicians who love what they do. “The Midnight Animal” is up next and after a John Carpenter-esque opening the track erupts into full on black metal riffery. The synth remains prevalent throughout the track, adding just that little extra melody to what is an unrelenting slab of extreme metal. “Die into Us” is up next, and the Carpenter influence grows. The opening is incredibly reminiscent of Carpenter’s classic Halloween, and that keyboard riff is present throughout. The guitar riffs are a little more traditional sounding but work perfectly with the Halloween-esque keyboard riff. This is probably my favourite track on the album, despite the fact it borrows so heavily from carpenter’s most famous piece of music, the whole thing is done with such style you can’t help but love it. “Suicide Market” amalgamates even more 80s horror synth and modern extreme metal influences to great effect, whilst “The Gown” provides even more wonderful 80s horror synth, before it explodes into life in the final minute. I really like this one, the mixture of the brutal and the beautiful appeals greatly to my sensibilities. “Grease Infant” follows, and after another lovely Carpenter-esque opening riff, we are once again treated to that fusion of styles this album is packed full of, the mixing of extreme metal and horror synth soundtracks is pretty unique but works so well.

“Galaxy Ripper” is a shift in style somewhat, coming off as a short sharp reminder of the band’s previous work. A more traditional extreme metal style track that pummels the listener into submission. “Tragedy” see’s the return of the synth, albeit less prevalent than on most of the other tracks on the album. This one is still largely a straight ahead metal track. “Girl Autopsy” is a short instrumental piece, which focuses on the horror synth aspect of the band’s sound, whilst final track “In the Flesh” is a fast and furious black metal infused track that leaves the listener drained. It features some lovely keyboard flourishes, but they don’t dilute the brutality of the track.

What I find interesting about this album is that it doesn’t do anything new,  what it does do is to take two very different styles of music and fuse them together in a way that has only ever been hinted at previously. I have become jaded by much of what passes for extreme metal these days as it has become ever more homogenized, but this has reawakened my interest somewhat. The combination of styles on display here sets the band apart from their contemporaries. I am also left wondering what a spin off album of horror soundtrack material would be like. It’s certainly worth consideration. One thing I’ve been unable to find out about this album is who is the keyboard whizz. Every lineup I can find online only lists the three members, and none of them are listed as a keyboard player. If it is indeed a separate individual I hope he’s snapped up and added to the lineup on a permanent basis as I have really enjoyed listening to his work. Overall, the songcraft on the album is top class and the musical performances are also of an incredibly high standard. If you’re looking for something a little different from the mass of extreme metal albums out there and you love the work of Carpenter, Goblin, Perturbator, you might want to give this a listen.