Metal writers see new albums from “anonymous” metal entities so often that the whole notion becomes ridiculous. We have so little time to devote to new music that you think you can win us over by playing up your lack of image, persona, willingness to be antisocial as a way of looking “dangerous” and “mysterious”? Come on.
But then you get one recording in your inbox that compels you to try it out, and lo and behold, it winds up being one of the biggest revelations of the year.
Said band is Luminous Vault, and no one knows just what nor who in the hell they are. All we know is that their new EP entitled Communion is a wicked blend of death metal and doom riffing, colossal drum machine beats reminiscent of Godflesh, featuring artwork and lyrics that prove to be equally compelling.
After some painstaking effort I managed to contact the entities that comprise this project. “The cover is a detail of Albrech Durer’s ‘Whore of Babylon’, from his Apocalypse series, where she is depicted holding a chalice ‘full of abominations’ as described in the New Testament,” they explain. “The lyrics describe and affirm this communion with daemonic forces, both light and dark, human and non-human:
the door will be lifted, the flame will burn
it passes between above and below
a chalice is raised in the wasteland
the blood of the god is the seed of revolt
deliver the wound
—
ingest the blood of communion
law of pulsation
Slain and now risen
Earth is the daemon”
Featuring two tracks, this ten-minute EP, which comes out November 7 on Graceless Recordings, leaves an immediate impression, and can be streamed in its entirely below.
And according to the band, their identities will apparently be revealed on 10 November at the Martyrdoom fest at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn.
