Band:	Lunar Chamber
Album:	Shambhallic Vibrations
Style:	Progressive death metal
Release date:	April 2023

01. Intro (Shambhallic Vibrations)
02. Spirit Body And The Seeing Self
03. Interlude (Ancient Sage)
04. The Bodhi Tree
05. III. Crystalline Blessed Light Flows... From Violet Mountains Into Lunar Chambers

A debut EP from a band whose members go by elaborate pseudonyms (such as ‘They, Who May Not Be Perceived’) released on a reputable label such as 20 Buck Spin despite no prior music being released by the band before said EP’s announcement: if your Spidey-sense is telling you ‘secret supergroup’, you’re bang on the money.

This is one of those cases where the truth has travelled the world seemingly without being officially announced; aside from the decidedly uncryptic ‘K. Paradis’ (Benighted’s Kevin Paradis) on drums, the other members are all referred to only by their stage names on Bandcamp and YouTube, but it is apparently common knowledge that the two guitarist/vocalists behind it are the same duo behind Tómarúm, while the bassist is Alcyone’s Thomas Campbell. Some respectable extreme metal pedigree in the band members then, and then on top of that you’ve got Greg Chandler (Esoteric) responsible for mixing and Colin Marston (half the tech-metal scene) handling the mastering. All this talent is squeezed into a 30-minute EP packed to the brim with explosive progressive/technical death metal, and the outcome is quite something.

The referring to this album as both progressive and technical in the last paragraph feels necessary, as both descriptors clearly apply to Shambhallic Vibrations. Excluding a frenetic 90-second introductory piece and a 50-second mid-record interlude, the contents of this EP (which, at 30 minutes, could easily be classed as an album) are comprised of three songs that are crammed with enough ideas to produce twice as much music. The first of these, “Spirit Body And The Seeing Self”, has a musical core of fairly brutal technical death metal with weird, discordant instrumental progressions and repulsively deep growls; Lunar Chamber have been compared in some circles to Lykathea Aflame, and I can hear similarities that extend beyond each group’s influences from Eastern cultures and religions (Buddhism in the case of Shambhallic Vibrations. At the same time, amidst the chaos, there’s some subtly uplifting melody woven into aggressive riffs, and later on, the hints of melody in the guitar solos and ambient undertones remind me somewhat of Fallujah.

The technical level on display here is unsurprisingly incredibly impressive across the board, but like many tech-death records, it is the bass that arguably draws one’s attention most frequently; the fretless bass of Campbell (or Æther Lotus, as he’s going by here) soars out of the mix frequently, while also adding weight to some of the filthier trudging riffs. Both of these can be found in close proximity to one another midway through “The Bodhi Tree”, as a gnarly trudge with an almost aquatic vibe resulting from the vibrations arising from the vocals and instruments transitions into a brief bass solo passage. “The Bodhi Tree” is perhaps slightly less whiplash-inducing in its constant shifts, instead dwelling slightly more on some of its riffs, but it’s still a fairly chaotic endeavour that bludgeons and bedazzles; I feel the Buddhism influences primarily reside in the lyrics, as I doubt there’s many monasteries entertaining music displaying this kind of speed or aggression.

The final song on the EP, “III. Crystalline Blessed Light Flows... From Violet Mountains Into Lunar Chambers”, is about as long as both of the other two songs combined, as if the title alone didn’t tell you that Lunar Chamber were pushing the prog with this one. Motifs from the previous tracks are reprised and expanded here, and the flirtations with ambient sounds and cleaner, semi-monastic vocals are further developed. The group also largely shy away from the full-pelt extremity of the previous tracks; a passage earlier in this song is closer to funeral doom than tech-death, with depraved growls churning over glacial riffs and haunting lead guitar motifs. In addition to time dedicated to eerie atmosphere and bleak sung refrains, there are also dalliances with twinging clean guitar motifs reminiscent of Wayfarer, and even when the mix turns more metallic, it remains pretty consistently at slower tempos, including during a showstopping shredding solo section near the end.

Shambhallic Vibrations has generated a lot of fervour, and I completely understand why; from a technical and compositional theory perspective, it’s a very impressive record. Personally, I do enjoy it, from its furious riffs to its gloomy dirges, and it clearly has a vision to it that raises it above conventional tech-death fare. At the same time, I’m not quite ready to fully sing its praises from the rooftops; there’s just not quite enough here that I find truly compelling. Still, I appreciate the record while listening with a lot of admiration, and I’m intrigued to see what will come later from Lunar Chamber.