Band:	Cult Of Luna
Album:	Vertikal
Style:	Post-metal, Sludge metal
Release date:	January 25, 2013
A review by:	R'Vannith

01. The One
02. I: The Weapon
03. Vicarious Redemption
04. The Sweep
05. Synchronicity
06. Mute Departure
07. Disharmonia
08. In Awe Of
09. Passing Through
10. The Flow Reversed [limited edition bonus]

Rarely does an album place you in the exact environment which its creators would have you experience. Even rarer, in my experience, is when such is achieved within the wide reaching scope of post-metal; albums can be loose in their effort to engage the listener and they tend to be vague in their atmospheric axis points. The lines of latitude are often blurred and while an atmosphere is usually present it can be an altogether indifferent experience as you fail to identify your location. Yet listening to Cult Of Luna's latest release Vertikal you'll likely be more the wiser about your surroundings.

Supposedly the theme which ties the album together is based on "Metropolis" a 1927 German silent film dealing with a futuristic dystopian society. And the listener is thrown into the very thick of it. You can almost visualize the towering high-rises which block out all natural light and effectively entrap you in a man-made hell and technological cage. Once you're inside there is no leaving as the caustic guitar work severs all connections with the outside and leave you wasting behind bleak walls of atmospheric sludge and surrounds you with the thick fumes of post rock and metal.

The heavy use of synths and dense waves of electronic elements like in the introductory and pulsating track "The One" and the interlude "The Sweep" tie the album together as they are fitted amongst the gradual ascension of grippingly atmospheric passages such as the massive "Vicarious Redemption." Here the ambient elements first take hold and continue to rise up from the shadowed streets of this dystopia, slowly taking form in a well conceived alignment of post and sludge which steadily picks up in tempo and adopts a crushing rhythm.

The hardcore styled clean vocals, coarsely edged shouts and shrill hammering of high-hat and cymbal standout as they are projected within the atmospheric walls and attempt to breach their prison of sludge infused post metal. The drumwork is particularly well performed leading up to some truly climactic moments such as in the final stretch of the aptly titled "In Awe Of" or the rhythmically outstanding "Mute Departure."

Bearing a smoothly digestible sound as a result of a well balanced production, the album makes for an engaging listen. What is polished here in such a competent manner is at once richly diverse and defined, granting each track a ready and memorable distinction. Cult Of Luna has an atmospheric and thematic focus which manifests itself quite nicely in Vertikal.