Review Summary: A solid effort from the up and coming death doom icon The Lust I Seek.
The Lust I Seek is one of those bands that you run across randomly and catch your eye as being a really cheesy doom metal band full of whiny lyrics, angsty guitar playing, and typical song patterns. Well, in this case, you’ve been fooled. The Lust I Seek take on a very unique and conquering style of epic death metal with symphonic doom elements. The vocals range from a deep, emotional level of My Dying Bride clean singing to crushing, brutal death growls that shake can shake the room with intensity if played too loud. The guitars are very defined and catchy, playing everything from sweeping melodies to crushing atmospheres to catchy riffs that make you wonder if they are really as young as they claim to be. The keyboards add great symphonic soundscape and soothing melodies in and out of the unconformity. The bass is easily the most forgettable part about the band, but does standout at some points adding to the guitars powerful melodies. The drummer is equivalent in skill to that of the bassist but manages to keep himself heard by following a lot of the guitars complex patterns.
Ancient is the third release by The Lust I Seek and a solid EP with two great songs both marking in the mid 8 minute range.
Carpathian Desire is the first part of the EP and starts off with very constant, heavy guitar riffs as the vocalist chants dark lyrics. The guitars then jump into a another heavy set of riffs as the vocalist roars in his anger. The atmospheric build during the guitar solo that follows leads into a much slower, heavier form of doom. The guitars then flow into a dark, gothic melody as the vocalist jumps from deep death growls to a more black metal vocal style. The guitars then repeats itself but without making it seem like they simply restarted the song, adding some keyboard melodies that help the song progress into a definite closure.
Faces In The Mist is a much more ‘laid back’ track then the first. At least at the intro any ways. The guitars are very catchy and it becomes apparent which is the better of the two tracks as the song reaches a more defined sound of atmospheric melody. The song progresses with the vocals as they change from dark chants to the brutal death growls. The guitars then break off as the keyboard become the dominate instrument. A much more progressive style of song writing appears as the music builds steadily from it’s keyboard breakdown.
The Lust I Seek must take pride in their music making talents because they have a lot to show for it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up becoming the next Moonspell or My Dying Bride, but they do manage to keep their own sound even though their worship for these bands is apparent. My only neg on this EP and the band is that the clean vocals are not what I’d call great, and would be much better if they got either another vocalist to clean sing or drop the clean vocals all together. 4/5 for a great release that is free for download on the band’s website.
