Metal Storm logo
Lunacy Box - Lunacy Box review



Reviewer:
N/A

1 user:
2
Band: Lunacy Box
Album: Lunacy Box
Release date: June 2009


01. Wrong Lane
02. Save
03. Love To Hate Me
04. Broken Dreams
05. Nice shot Prelude
06. Hey Man, Nice Shot [Filter cover]
07. No Turning Back
08. I Think I'm Done
09. Hide
10. More Than I Do

Not every melancholic rock band with female vocals is automatically goth. This is also true for Lunacy Box, regardless what their MySpace profile might claim. This is not goth, or at least it's about as goth as Kidneythieves, which is coincidentally the band that Lunacy Box sounds closest to. In other words, what we are dealing with here is emotional industrial rock like Filter or Stabbing Westward albeit with a female singer.

Thankfully, besides this blatant misinterpretation of their style, there is not much else to complain about regarding the band's eponymous debut. This kind of music used to be quite popular a good 15 years ago and since by now most of its purveyors have eroded into mediocrity or obscurity, Lunacy Box sounds reasonably fresh and honest. Most importantly, it seems that the band knows how to capitalize on their abilities while avoiding musical areas that might be uncomfortable for them. The vocals, performed by one Ms. Larsen, are neither forced nor overwrought, without unnecessary operatic indulgences that are ever so popular nowadays. The same is generally true for the rest of the band, where there is a sense of frugality that allows for the music to escape from the dreaded emo tag in favor of simply being honestly and appropriately melancholic. Some excellent Paradise Lost-style leads in songs like "I Think I'm Done" and "Save" complete the puzzle. Meanwhile, tracks like "Love To Hate Me", "No Turning Back" and the very well realized Filter cover rely on catchy, powerfully sung refrains.

Lunacy Box is an album that moves slowly and achieves the appropriate mood of melancholic discontent with tools that one would imagine an actual depressed person would use. It is brooding, forlorn and cynical but never whiny, kitschy or shallow. Naturally, these very qualities might make it boring as hell to a lot of people. Well, if you're one of them - stay clear. Otherwise, I'd say Lunacy Box is a band that is worth checking out.





Written on 07.07.2009 by With Metal Storm since 2002, jupitreas has been subjecting the masses to his reviews for quite a while now. He lives in Warsaw, Poland, where he does his best to avoid prosecution for being so cool.


Comments

Comments: 1   Visited by: 10 users
22.07.2011 - 07:49
Jason W.
Razorbliss
Decided to run through a few bands I'd added to my list, and came across this one I'd put there quite awhile back. Really nice album, and I agree with you here, this is one for fans of bands like Stabbing Westward & Kidneythieves moreso than for gothic rock or metal fans. Lunacy Box is a bit less aggressive musically, which is probably why I think I prefer this over Kidneythieves as well too.
----
"After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
Loading...

Hits total: 3396 | This month: 7