You can support Terra Relicta by donating! Please, do so, and thank you!
Band: Light Field Reverie
Album title: Another World
Release date: 20 November 2020
Label: Avantgarde Music / Shadowed Road Records
Genre: Atmospheric Metal, Doom Metal, Post-Rock, Darkwave, Ambient
Tracklist:
01. Ultraviolet
02. The Oldest House
03. Ghost Bird
04. Another World
05. Dreamwalker
06. All Roads Lead Home
Deep emotions, inherited sense of melancholy, stellar haunting melodies, celestial voices, and much more is waiting for you in this debut masterpiece by Light Field Reverie. I guess that you already know that Light Field Reverie is a new project by the siren of doom Heike Langhans, the composer/multiinstrumentalist of darkness Mike Lamb and the string of melancholy Scotty Lodge. If these three musicians didn't already bring enough of atmospheric darkness and sweet sorrow with their bands like Draconian, Ison, Lorelei, Sojourner and Lysithea, now Light Field Reverie brings all of that in one single shoot.
Another World is such a meticulous and elaborate work of sonic art that brings shivers with its captivating, and I can easily say otherworldly, musical structures. It seems that every single musical creation that is graced with Heike's soothing voice turns out to be gold shining in this darkened world, no matter if it concerns her main bands/projects (unfortunately her story with Ison is over), the same can be said also for her many guest contributions. I need to mention that Heike on this album did many of compositions and also plays synths. As well the exceptional guitarist/composer Mike Lamb (who on this album plays also synths, piano and drums), and bassist Scotty, who both with Sojourner hit hard the world of dark metal earlier in 2020 with Premonitions, add their part in this exceptional musical journey.
It's not that Light Field Reverie do something new and original, that doesn't even matter here, some elements can be compared with every Heike's past and present musical experience; the melancholic atmospheres of Ison and the gloom and doom of Draconian, all merge with Mike’s melodic and layered songwriting that we’ve been able to enjoy in Sojourner. The songs have many times some kind of strange 80s hint, but it still does sound pretty modern. Even though that metal is in minority (no matter the fact that there are many heavy guitar riffs), sometimes it's almost absent, this music has a lot of power, and kind of a unique uplifting character that reminds me to the "fairy-tale" kind of a music world similar to the one of The Birthday Massacre (just listen to the albums title track for example).
Those beautiful melodies that are present all over, together with ambient synths, strong doomy rhythms, interesting use of electronic samples, for example in "Ultraviolet", drones, the gently melancholic piano, as well the addition of some spoken words in certain songs, and harsh vocals provided by Sojourner's vocalist Emilio Crespo in the heaviest yet otherworldly song "Ghost Bird" (a reinterpretation of Lysithea's song "The Lighthouse"), certainly captivates the listener from the very beginning until the last notes. Everything is freakingly haunting and ethereal, you can feel it on your skin how the Isonesque beginning of "The Oldest House" drives you smoothly into another space and time. All this together with deeply personal lyrics about finding the light in an uncertain world finds its emotional peak in the dark honeyed atmospheres of "Dreamwalker" (a reinterpretation of the song "Renn" by Heike's solo project Lorelei).
It's impossible to say which song is the best, as the entire album sounds like integrity and it is meant to consume the listener and his/her senses like not much music can do. It's a breathtaking album, with an incredible yet intriguing sense of steadily but slowly building up the tension in every song that encompasses the already all-consuming feelings. Another World is an atmospheric music journey that has no end and it will remain like a wound in the heart caused by the arrow named Light Field Reverie. Now you need to get comfortable, light up a candle or two, put your headphones on, and let yourself drown into Another World.
The review was written by Tomaz
Rating: 9,5/10
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
