THE MOTHER AND THE ENEMY

This is quite literally the most unpredictable album I've heard in extreme metal, to the point where some of it doesn't even qualify as metal at all - three tracks are far more likely to be classified as trip-hop than as any form of metal I've even heard, and even on the "metallic" numbers you'll find digressions into techno, jazz, or spoken word.

A lot of people only know Lux Occulta (Latin for "hidden light") as "that side project of Martin and Vogg from Decapitated." This is a shame, because while Decapitated are unquestionably one of the best straight-up death metal acts recording today, Lux Occulta record music of a complexity and intensity that puts even that band's repertoire to shame. My Guardian Anger was a simmering, unholy slab of progressive black metal the likes of which has seldom been heard before and is unlikely to be heard again for quite some time, and this album takes its blueprint and expands on it in every direction imagineable.

Lux Occulta have always been one of the more experimental black metal acts out there, but this album comes as a complete shock upon first listen. It doesn't get much easier on subsequent listens, either; this is difficult subject matter the band are treating here. The mother of the title is Mother Nature, and the enemy is the human race. Several tracks explicitly detail the disintegration of the planet, featuring horrors Biblical in scope of humanity's own making. The music is suitably dark to match, even for Lux Occulta; while My Guardian Anger and previous efforts contained considerable amounts of melodicism for a band this heavy, this album eschews melody almost entirely. The music is more complex than before, as well; Lux Occulta have firmly planted themselves in the math-metal camp of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah et al. with this release, to the point where it becomes clear why they've had such difficulty finding a replacement drummer (percussionist Kriss departed after this record): there are very few people who could play this music.

If anything is in danger of sinking the record, it's the diversity of the tracks here, but after repeated listens the song order begins to make a bit more sense. Unquestionably the highlight of the album, and possibly of the band's entire career, is "Missa Solemnis," which is as good of a career summary as I can imagine for the band's trajectory thus far; other choice cuts include "Mother Pandora," "Architecture," and the three trip-hop numbers (namely, "Yet Another Armageddon," "Midnight Crisis," and "Breathe Out"), which are excellent. I would recommend starting with My Guardian Anger, which might be a stronger record, but this album should not be overlooked. Just don't expect to comprehend it after one listen, or even ten.

(Review originally written for Last.FM and later posted at Metal Archives)

"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).