Lysjakt - Ethereal Palace - review
Lysjakt - Ethereal Palace - review
Tracklist
01. Stranger Aeons02. Irongod
03. Death May Die
04. Leave The Light
05. Ethereal Palace
06. The Graveyard
07. Tidens Hånd
08. Cthulian Sleep (The Impending Doom)
A review by
musclassia June 01, 2021
Lysjakt is a one-man project helmed by Marius Ofstad, formerly of Art Of Deception (who have previously released a song titled "Lysjakt"). If the surname Ofstad seems familiar, you may be a fan of Kvelertak, as Marius is the younger brother of their guitarist Maciek, who actually makes a guest appearance on the record (along with several other musicians, including Equilibrium's Skar). Kvelertak isn't actually the band I was referring to in the top sentence, however; whilst they're clearly an influence on parts of Ethereal Palace, the band whose shadow most obviously lurks over this debut record from Lysjakt is Mastodon.
Ethereal Place is a short, sharp debut: 36 minutes of filler-free engaging proggy sludge. I'd say the influence of Mastodon can be heard quite early on Ethereal Palace courtesy of the Americana-influenced guitar solo that carries introductory piece "Stranger Aeons". Beyond that point, there are riffs, licks and solos throughout much of Ethereal Palace that bear the hallmark of the work of Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher, both in their earlier Leviathan/Blood Mountain and more recent The Hunter days; if you need convincing, just listen to "Death May Die" for examples of pretty much everything I've just mentioned. Nevertheless, whilst it's an easy comparison to make, Ethereal Palace isn't defined by these parallels. Ofstad draws from other bands and styles ranging from hard rock to death metal, equally content to march forward in a mid-tempo stomp as blitz ahead with full-pelt riffs, each style ably combined with his hoarse barks. The trudgier moments work fine, but I feel Ethereal Palace lights up when the pace is faster or the sonic palette is brighter, such as during a melodic break late on in "Irongod" that affords Ofstad the opportunity to rip into a rockabilly-style solo.
Mastodon is the most obvious reference for the sound on Ethereal Palace, but it's not universally relevant. The most notable exception is "Tidens Hånd", a song that it would surprise no one to hear was created by someone related to a member of Kvelertak; I can only assume that this is the song that Maciek Ofstad guests on, as once it gets going, it kicks into a groove that could well be one discarded by Maciek's band. Additionally, the intro chug to "Leave The Light" and later moments in the same track run closer to the sound of Gojira than either Mastodon or Kvelertak. Perhaps a less predictable reference point is Amorphis; however, I dare you to listen to clean vocal section late on in "Leave The Light" and not hear a resemblance to some of Tomi Joutsen's work with the Finnish titans.
The musical lineage of Ethereal Palace is easy to trace, but there's plenty of bands that try to sound like Mastodon and/or Kvelertak without producing anything nearly as good as this. What Ethereal Palace lacks in originality it makes up for with great songs filled with compelling riffs, complex-yet-smooth structures and exciting little musical detours. The highlights for me would probably be "Irongod" and "Leave The Light", but the album as a whole is reliably enjoyable, with a great guitar moment never far away.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 5 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 01.06.2021 by
Written on 01.06.2021 by
Hey chief let's talk why not Comments
Comments:
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Posts: 653  |
Posts: 653
It's a must listen then
---- Ride a horse that's cleaving through the air and space of dreams.
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Posts: 653 |
Posts: 653
Aaaaaaand it was really good
---- Ride a horse that's cleaving through the air and space of dreams.
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Posts: 8681 Written by Mehrad on 01.06.2021 at 21:52 Glad you enjoyed - I stumbled across it on Heavy Blog Is Heavy and dug it a lot, but it's got barely any coverage online so felt it merited a review here
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 Posts: 8004 |
Posts: 8004
I don't need originality when something's that catchy. Cool album!
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Posts: 1239  |
Posts: 1239
Really nice debut! I enjoy it a lot, checked it out thanks to the review.  But honestly, I don't get the Mastodon reference at all. Some riffs kind of have the Mastodon expansiveness to them, but to me, In Mourning or something closer to Gothenburg metal would be a more telling point of reference. 
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Posts: 8681 Written by Kuroboshi on 16.07.2021 at 17:20 That surprises me, it felt pretty clear to me at times. I'm just relistening to Irongod, and I'm hearing bits of Leviathan in the riffs, and some of the cleaner sounds from Blood Mountain/CTS in the 'chorus'. I think it's more in the later part of the song though, particularly the solos - it's never relentlessly Mastodon-sounding like a couple of tracks from the Vokonis album this year, as there's usually other things going on at the same time to dilute the 'Mastodon' in their sound, but it's something that consistently creeps into the mix for me, particularly on Death May Die. Tbh I don't think I ever thought of In Mourning once whilst listening to it, so we've clearly had different experiences with this album 
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Posts: 1239 |
Posts: 1239 Written by musclassia on 16.07.2021 at 20:50 And we both enjoyed it, so it doesn't matter really in the end! 
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