Band:	Lurk
Album:	Fringe
Style:	Doom metal, Sludge metal
Release date:	April 29, 2016
A review by:	nikarg

01. Ostrakismos
02. Tale Blade
03. Reclaim
04. Elan
05. Offshoot
06. Furrow
07. Nether
08. Proteus Syndrome

Doom is good. Doom mixed with sludge is better.

Fringe is Lurk's third full-length and, although it briefly came out digitally in 2016, it was never made available in physical form and as far as the band and their new label, Transcending Obscurity Records, are concerned, the official release date is in 2018.

The album boasts brand new cover artwork by Adam Burke, who has also been responsible for the latest releases by Hooded Menace, Loss and Gatecreeper, just to name a few. In fact it was the album cover that initially drew me into these Finns and their musical palette of sludgy doom blended with death and black metal. This obscure creature loitering in the shadows of forest trees under the dim moonlight, accompanied by two human skeletons, was enough to make me check Fringe out. And I sure am glad I did.

Lurk create a suffocating and claustrophobic atmosphere that shrouds your very existence. The band opts for mood and nuance more than anything else, but those looking for chugs the size of boulders will not be disappointed. "Ostrakismos" is a bleak and hypnotic opener that sets the tone with the alto saxophone slipping through post-metal cracks to further enhance a completely hallucinatory experience. "Tale Blade" speeds things up slightly and introduces a glimpse of mournful melody. With the exception of the death/black pummelling in "Offshoot" the album plods along in an overall slow pace, frequently exchanging between dirge-like, colossal riffs and squealing leads. Koskinen's multi-faceted vocals are haunting, disdain-filled and terrifying, sounding like a Nordic beast that has been rudely awakened from its hibernation.

Lurk's music can be defined as doom metal; not the melancholic kind though, but rather the sludgy/death, nasty and swamp-loving doom. Fringe reflects the feeling of being left alone and helpless in Finland's dark and desolate forest marshes. It had been lying in hiding during the last couple of years, existing unnoticed, but now the predator is out in plain sight to hunt the unsuspecting.

"The tale is the saw to cut the human off me
suture my powers
to this world"