THE MOTHER AND THE ENEMY

"The Mother and the Enemy" is the fourth full-length studio album by Polish black metal act Lux Occulta. The album was released through Maquiavel Music in November 2001 and it´s the second Lux Occulta album to feature the two Decapitated members Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka (lead guitars) and Martin Rygiel (bass). Drummer Krzysztof Szantula left in the middle of the recording sessions and the remaining drum parts were therefore recorded by session drummer Gerard Niemczyk (Schismatic, Death Sea, Holy Death...etc.).

While a more abstract avant-garde direction was sometimes heard on "My Guardian Anger" (Lux Occulta´s third full-length studio album from November 1999), Lux Occulta have opted to take that direction all the way on "The Mother and the Enemy". The music is still somewhat in the symphonic black metal mold (although it´s now just one element of the band´s sound), but the abrupt tempo- and time signature changes and changes in riff style and atmospheres combined with quite a few creative and unconventional songwriting ideas (how about a jazzy saxophone break during "Architecture" or a fully fledged female vocal-led trip-hop track in "Yet Another Armageddon"), have arguably taken Luc Occulta in an avant-garde black/death metal direction. Some of the things happening on this album really shouldn´t work, but because Lux Occulta are as skilled and clever as they are, they sometimes make odd musical ideas work really well within the context of their relatively extreme and at times quite technical black/death metal sound.

"The Mother and the Enemy" features a powerful, raw, and detailed sound production, which suits the material well. "My Guardian Anger" was a great album in its own right, but Lux Occulta have stepped up in all departments on this album and "The Mother and the Enemy" is therefore an excellent avant-garde extreme metal release on all parameters. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).