Lalu - Atomic Ark - review
Lalu - Atomic Ark - review
Tracklist
01. Greed02. War On Animals
03. Tatonka
04. Mirror Prison
05. Deep Blue
06. Bast
07. Momento
08. Follow The Line
09. Slaughtered
10. Revelations
A review by
R'Vannith September 12, 2013
Dutifully guiding Lalu's compositions with his vocal work Martin LeMar of Mekong Delta gives voice to a robust rhythm section. With Donati of Planet X on drums, LePond of Symphony X on bass and DGM's Mularoni on guitar it's no wonder an effective rhythm is so easily established.
The concise track lengths serve to emphasize the satiating guitar focused delivery, such as the drive of the opening "Greed" and "War On Animals", the latter featuring vocals from Andersson of Cloudscape. The major exception to the album's concise nature is the lengthy and varied nineteen and a half minute closer "Revelations" which holds much of the album's creativity. A noticeable departure from the preceding songs it undergoes much inner variation given its duration. From a magnanimous piano which flows seamlessly into a triad of a higher reaching vocal performance, gentle strumming and atmospheric layering it has the makings of a progressive metal epic.
The course of Atomic Ark is marked by a variety of images which are cleverly placed before the listener. Some of these have been ingeniously designated a global location; Lalu's own work at the keyboard gives "Tatonka" an OSI like texture which somehow conjure up tribal like beats of native American origin as they connect well with the song's theme. "Bast" concerns the Egyptian goddess with the guitar working in an appropriate oriental feel amongst the orchestral accoutrements and "Momento" with a stylistically power metal chorus gives off a far-eastern air. One track which receives particular inspiration is "Follow The Line", an obvious move into Gentle Giant territory with those bemusing time signatures and whimsical riffs.
From "Deep Blue" onward the album becomes more melodically inclined and a more effective flow is maintained. From track to track things seem dislocated as each new sound presented seems to abruptly jump into the next. When compared to the finale the songs of a more concise delivery appear as an assorted collection under a loose concept. This makes for a heavy ended product with "Revelations" existing as one continual movement in contrast to the rest of the album.
Although not startlingly original in sound Lalu's hook littered and varied song writing is sure to catch the attention of progressive metal fans with this individualized method of album construction.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 9 |
Comments
Comments:
3
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Posts: 11934
Definitely checking this one. Thanks for reviewing it, it seems to be exactly what I had imagined.
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Posts: 1116
Although it was good, I feel that I won't be listening to it again in a long while. Nice review
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