Review Summary: Good ole' Christian, or in the band's words "spiritual," progressive black/death metal that might even make Kimm wanna listen to it.
If you're reading this review right now chances are you're asking yourself, "Who in the hell is Lo-Ruhamah?" And if you're asking yourself that, I don't blame you. Well let me give you an answer, Lo-Ruhamah is one hell of a talented progressive black/death metal band from Kansas City, Missouri. They're relatively new to the metal scene, forming just 8 years ago in 2002. Well let me just say they pretty much burst onto the scene with their debu self-titled EP in 2005. What you'll experience on this EP is elements of certain bands that you may be familar with, such as Akercocke or Ikuinen Kaamos, mixed with their own personal style thrown into the mix.
When I say that they add their own unique touch to the music, I mean that they do the whole progressive black/death thing very well in their own right, but also add in elements of folk and post-rock to the pot of extreme music that you're already experiencing. Take for example the all instrumental track, In Mourning's Arms, that is only a litle over a minute. Now for that minute, you're taken into a world of absoulute peace. The folk instruments and the soft, clean acoustic guitars are like heaven to your ears. Then all of a sudden you're smacked in the face with tremolo picked guitar riffs and heinous shrieked vocals that sound like they came straight up from the pits of hell. That's just the kind of thing this album will give you and it's a surprise. One minute you could be in a state of pure bliss and the next minute you're about to have a panic attack because of all the insanity. That's where the beauty lies within this album. Death growls, black metal banshee vocals, blast beats, buzzsaw guitars...it's all present here. But there's also plenty of peacefulness to be found here as well and that's the great thing about this.
You may be wondering about the comparisons I made previously to Akercocke and Ikuinen Kaamos. Well, those are pretty accurate comparisons. If you listen to the vocals, there's a striking resemblance to David from Akercocke, which is a good thing. And the overall atmosphere and presence of the album is quite similar to something you would hear from Ikuinen Kaamos. However, there is one big difference and that is that Lo-Ruhamah is a Christian/spiritual band. Yes indeed, the lyrics are all about redemption and religion and other things of that nature. Seems weird that a band such as this could be compared to arguably the most Satanic bands in all of metal, Akercocke. That's another thing that makes Lo-Ruhamah a very unique band.
Everyone keep in mind that this is only their debut EP. They can still improve and the thought of how good this band could possibly be is astounding. Plus, this only clocks in at around 21 minutes so it's not a tedious listen whatsoever. Anyone interested in any type of progressive or extreme music should definitely check this out. This band isn't quite up to the standards of the aforementioned bands yet, but the sky is the limit for them.
