Foliate and deceptively delicate, the fifth full-length record from one-man black metal project Lustre earns its title. The project from solo artist Henrik Sunding — who also goes by Nachtzeit (which translates to "night time") and is the mastermind behind Ered Wethrin (a black metal project based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien) — is always suffused with a sense of wonder, and Blossom is no different, shivering with a kind of explorative joy even when Nachtzeit's vocals seem to shake with agony. The tracks are keyboard-driven, providing a strong melodic base that the much sharper and uglier guitar tones gleefully hack and slash away at.
There is something deeply restorative and also painful about the record, like circulation slowly returning to a tourniqueted limb, or life returning to a bleak landscape after the depth of winter. It's easy to appreciate the beauty and delicacy of spring, but Blossom revels in the anguish of life crawling back after a long and brutal slumber, of green sap and blood forcing their way back into the world. It's a tribute to the cruelty of spring.
(Nordvis)There is something deeply restorative and also painful about the record, like circulation slowly returning to a tourniqueted limb, or life returning to a bleak landscape after the depth of winter. It's easy to appreciate the beauty and delicacy of spring, but Blossom revels in the anguish of life crawling back after a long and brutal slumber, of green sap and blood forcing their way back into the world. It's a tribute to the cruelty of spring.
