79 minutes? Honestly, given the paucity of outstanding releases in 2019 so far, if this isn't album of the year it'll be disappointment of the year for me, my expectations are unfairly high

Written by musclassia on 01.08.2019 at 10:28

79 minutes? Honestly, given the paucity of outstanding releases in 2019 so far, if this isn't album of the year it'll be disappointment of the year for me, my expectations are unfairly high

Second best. Esoteric are gonna take over.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.08.2019 at 14:43

Written by musclassia on 01.08.2019 at 10:28

79 minutes? Honestly, given the paucity of outstanding releases in 2019 so far, if this isn't album of the year it'll be disappointment of the year for me, my expectations are unfairly high

Second best. Esoteric are gonna take over.

Ah shit, a new one from them? Taken long enough! Are there concrete details yet or have they just said they're putting something out. Hadn't listened to them in like 5-6 years, but revisited PoD and TMV after seeing them in December, forgot how great a track Circle is

Written by musclassia on 01.08.2019 at 14:49

Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.08.2019 at 14:43

Written by musclassia on 01.08.2019 at 10:28

79 minutes? Honestly, given the paucity of outstanding releases in 2019 so far, if this isn't album of the year it'll be disappointment of the year for me, my expectations are unfairly high

Second best. Esoteric are gonna take over.

Ah shit, a new one from them? Taken long enough! Are there concrete details yet or have they just said they're putting something out. Hadn't listened to them in like 5-6 years, but revisited PoD and TMV after seeing them in December, forgot how great a track Circle is

BOOM

Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.08.2019 at 15:22

Written by musclassia on 01.08.2019 at 14:49

Ah shit, a new one from them? Taken long enough! Are there concrete details yet or have they just said they're putting something out. Hadn't listened to them in like 5-6 years, but revisited PoD and TMV after seeing them in December, forgot how great a track Circle is

BOOM

27-minute opener? Crikey

By dropping the concept and just focusing on making a bunch of great songs, Cult of Luna have finally released an album that holds up all the way through. It is long, very long in fact, but not a second is wasted. Well, maybe a few seconds here and there. Maybe a minute or so, on "Lights On The Hill". But really, this is 80 minutes of the best music CoL have ever released. Very likely AOTY, a few months left...

Written by musclassia on 01.08.2019 at 10:28

79 minutes? Honestly, given the paucity of outstanding releases in 2019 so far, if this isn't album of the year it'll be disappointment of the year for me, my expectations are unfairly high

This is probably going to be my album of the year

Damn, Lights on The Hill and The Fall are brilliant.

It's good, pals

Lights on the Hill is unbelievable.

I like this post-metal thing, there are some highlights ("Lights on the Hill"), but it feels to me that Numenorean did a better job this year. It will need more spin maybe.

I decided to listen to this on a whim. It's pretty good. I never really got into the band. The three or four albums I listened to were all decent to solid stuff but --like most post metal-- they failed to really grab me. I did see them live at Roadburn where they played one of their albums in full (don't ask me which one) and that was --like most post metal-- infinitely better than any of their studio material.

That said, I think this album did a relatively good job at keeping my attention compared to the other ones I've heard, which is ironic considering I don't believe the other ones were this long.

Two complete listens so far, this is excellent. my favorite is probably "nightwalkers". 80 minutes of cult of luna felt much shorter than 40 minutes of many bands. great stuff

Nigntwalkers is a fucking ridiculously good tune. Pretty much pure doom for much of it.

Unsurprisingly, the songs from this album sound awesome live - they played Silent Man, Nightwalkers, Lights on the Hill and The Fall last night, and Nightwalkers and The Fall in particular sounded amazing

Written by musclassia on 30.11.2019 at 14:40

Unsurprisingly, the songs from this album sound awesome live - they played Silent Man, Nightwalkers, Lights on the Hill and The Fall last night, and Nightwalkers and The Fall in particular sounded amazing

Indeed, I saw them in Paris last week-end, it was mind blowing... made me love this album even more
I think they should even play one of the slower track from this album, A Dawn To Fear would be sick

I was a bit disappointed by the London show, but that might be my fault for not trying to get a bit closer, it was proper packed though. Just sounded a bit too too quiet and muddy from where I was. Girlfriend thought it sounded good though and she's as fussy as I am, so might have just been my expectations after the Arctangent show. Great setlist though, but Mayhem sounded better at that venue I thought a couple of weeks ago.

Written by Mercurial on 05.12.2019 at 00:10

I was a bit disappointed by the London show, but that might be my fault for not trying to get a bit closer, it was proper packed though. Just sounded a bit too too quiet and muddy from where I was. Girlfriend thought it sounded good though and she's as fussy as I am, so might have just been my expectations after the Arctangent show. Great setlist though, but Mayhem sounded better at that venue I thought a couple of weeks ago.

I was pretty close to the stage - there were a couple of points (think it was worst in the first song) where the guitars sounded a bit muddy, but then I didn't notice it much after that. I know Finland and Nightwalkers were the songs that most impressed me and they were pretty early on in the setlist. I am a huge fan of their live shows so may be more forgiving than most of sound issues though.

Written by musclassia on 05.12.2019 at 10:59


I was pretty close to the stage - there were a couple of points (think it was worst in the first song) where the guitars sounded a bit muddy, but then I didn't notice it much after that. I know Finland and Nightwalkers were the songs that most impressed me and they were pretty early on in the setlist. I am a huge fan of their live shows so may be more forgiving than most of sound issues though.

I thought Finland sounded better sound wise, so I figured they hadn't quite refined the sound on the newer tracks quite yet, but I was pretty happy they played Nigntwalkers anyway.

I could not like Mariner. I don't know why. It's the only other Cult of Luna album I had heard. Until this one. This is such a good album to my ears. Perfectly melodic, sludgy and atmospheric. It contains full of guitar riffs that are instantly likeable. Songs that end up in a crescendo and then falls like a waterfall. And the magnum opus of this album, "Lights on the Hill".

Nightwalkers is also bloody brilliant.

Quality album for sure. Love it.

This album is example for Tool that you can do good long album without annoying useless interludes.

Ok, so started listening to the album after the comments here. 4 minutes into Lights on the Hill and nothing has happened yet.

Written by The Melting Snow on 20.02.2020 at 13:55

Ok, so started listening to the album after the comments here. 4 minutes into Lights on the Hill and nothing has happened yet.

Is this your first time listening to post-metal?

Nope. first time trying giving a serious try to Cult of Luna though.

Written by RaduP on 20.02.2020 at 14:20

Written by The Melting Snow on 20.02.2020 at 13:55

Ok, so started listening to the album after the comments here. 4 minutes into Lights on the Hill and nothing has happened yet.

Is this your first time listening to post-metal?

I will barely take him serious after he ends the 1st sentence.

Wanted to give it a 7 and call it overrated by the time I was listening to "Nightwalkers", then I was hit with "Lights On The Hill", now 8.6 is just the right score.

I've got to admit I find this album disappointed me a wee bit. Don't get me wrong it's still good, it's very cleverly constructed, well performed, and there's certainly moments that stand out for me such as the track "Nightwalkers", but I struggle getting into as a whole, I shamefully find it tedious in parts. I've tried with this in the hope it would grow because of it's generously high rating and the fact I usually think highly of post-metal and sludge.

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 23.01.2024 at 07:45

I've got to admit I find this album disappointed me a wee bit. Don't get me wrong it's still good, it's very cleverly constructed, well performed, and there's certainly moments that stand out for me such as the track "Nightwalkers", but I struggle getting into as a whole, I shamefully find it tedious in parts. I've tried with this in the hope it would grow because of it's generously high rating and the fact I usually think highly of post-metal and sludge.

How would you compare it to previous Cult of Luna albums?

Written by Netzach on 26.01.2024 at 22:32

How would you compare it to previous Cult of Luna albums?

Tbh I've only listened to four of their albums in full, those being Salvation, Vertikal, The Long Road North, and this one, and of those I'd say Salvation and Vertikal impressed me more than this release, The Long Road North less so. I'll have to make some time for digging into their discography from the very beginning and work my way back up.