Lutece – From Glory towards Void (2016)

Hailing from France, today we have quite an impressive outfit under the moniker of Lutece. Unleashing their third full-length release titled “From Glory towards Void”, the band delivers over 51 minutes of clean and precise Black Metal filled with crushing melodies and imposing vocals paired with emotional atmospheric elements.

Delivering a punishing opening blow with “Let the Carnyx Sound Again”, the band demonstrates their high-octane music with pummeling drums and intense riffing. Showing this was not a fluke, the brutal onslaught continues with the demoralizing “Melted Fles”. In this track we start noticing some very interesting atmospheric elements thrown into the mix, adding some additional complexity to the band’s music.

Filled with brilliant headbanging melodic passages, tracks like “The Venom Within”, “Architects of Doom” and “Labyrinth of Souls” demonstrate the band’s super tight core and excellent levels of melodic creativity. Perfectly framed under a crystal clear production, the band’s sound is quite complex and very clean, allowing their intensity to be perfectly channeled on powerful tracks like “From Glory towards Void” and our favorite “The Dance of Rolling Heads”.

As the album continues to steamroll the listener with brutal tracks like “The Last Standing Flag”, the intense riffing of “Living My Funeral” and the versatile closer “What Lies Beyond”, we are left quite impressed with the craftiness and intensity of this band. Drawing comparison to French outfits like Anorexia Nervosa, Merrimack, and Glaciation, the band is at the top of their game and “From Glory towards Void” is a testament to their skill and creativity. If you like brutal and yet elaborate Black Metal, look no further and pick up a copy of this release.

Label: Dooweet Records

Release: January 14th, 2016

Genre: Black Metal

Country: France