Lemuria - The Hysterical Hunt (2019)

Bringing back that nostalgic feeling of Symphonic Black Metal from the early 2000’s, today we have Belgium’s Lemuria and their full-length release “The Hysterical Hunt”. With over one hour of music, the band takes the listener in a very lively music filled with Folk elements and brilliant melodic passages, reminding us of outfits like Limbonic Art, Stormlord, Bal-Sagoth and early Agathodaimon.

After setting a turbulent and dramatic mood with the instrumental intro, the band gets down to business with the playful “A Plague Upon the Land”. This track features dramatic orchestrations that do not feel overpowering to the other elements, allowing the vocals to direct the show while the guitars and drums add a layer of heaviness to the music. As album title track rolls in, the pace pics up a bit and keep things interesting with cool vocal arrangements and killer melodic headbanging passages.

The album incrementally gets more epic and melodic as songs like “Between Man and Wolf”, “Of Winter and Hell”, and our personal favorite “A Secret Life”. This last track gave us that awesome Edge of Sanity vibe, with epic guitar leads, catchy female vocals all packaged with crunchy guitars and tight drums. For those liking more Black Metal in their days, “Deceptive Hibernation” has that furious pace and dramatic arrangements that fans of bands like Stormlord and (early) Graveworm will greatly appreciate.

We are quite impressed with the band’s versatility in all departments, the vocals range from clean female vocals to growls and shrieks, while the riffing is perfectly balanced between melodic and fast paced. “Endgame” is one of those tracks that showcases all the band’s musical and creative range. As a whole, “The Hysterical Hunt” is one hell of an entertaining release that is very well crafted and showcases tons of great ideas. Lemuria is definitely one of those bands that we will keep an eye (and ear) out for.

Label: Massacre Records

Release: January 18th, 2019

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

Country: Belgium