Lorelei - Shadows Of October (Тени Октября) (CD)

Review
The Pit of the Damned
Score: 75/100

Russia has traditionally been a great source for the darkest subgenres of metal, being probably the Russian doom/death/gothic metal scene one of the strongest, if not the strongest one. The Russian band Lorelei is undoubtedly influenced by this scene and though it doesn´t deliver anything original, their debut album 'Gloomy Waves of the Cold Sea' was a solid effort, which helped the band to carve a name in a quite crowded scene. For the curious people the band´s name has an interesting origin. Lorelei is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine, which is located near St. Goarshausen, in Germany. This Rock soars some 120 metres above the waterline. In relation to this, Lorelei is also the name of a feminine water spirit, associated with this rock in popular folklore and literature. It is indeed an appropriate name for an underground band. Even though the band was created around 2003 they have released only two albums, the reason behind this apparent inactivity was the constant line-up changes, something which sadly occurs too often in the darkest sub-genres of metal. Thankfully, the band finally found a solid line-up which had made possible to start releasing works at a more decent rate. Anyway, it has taken four years for the band to release a new work, entitled 'Тени октября' (Shadows of October), which should be a step forward for this band. As it has been aforementioned the band’s style is clearly rooted in the doom/death/gothic sound and this new album doesn´t leave behind this genre. The artwork itself is far from being original, though it suits perfectly well the band´s style and lyrics. This album, though I wouldn´t consider it a conceptual work, deals with Autumn, also a classic theme for those sort of bands, mainly because this season fits perfectly well the sense of melancholic atmosphere that doom/death bands try to create. Musically speaking Lorelei´s approach doesn´t differ too much from the classic fundaments of the genre. Their Music´s tempo is slow with pretty heavy guitars and simple drums, while the vocals are very well executed death-esque growls, occasionally accompanied by delicate female vocals which add the gothic touch to their music. The guitars deserve an especial mention as they deliver very mournful melodies, nothing groundbreaking here, but a very solid effort which shines on remarkable songs like the opener “Ya - Severniy Veter...” and the closer “Cantium Angelorum”. This track is probably my favourite one as the melodies are truly touching and express a sincere feeling of sorrow and melancholy, it is indeed an impressive way to end this sophomore work. The vocal delivery is quite solid with Alexey using the classic death metal growlings, while Maria shows us her great operatic voice, making a great contrast in songs like “Morskaya”. The keys are quite minimalistic, altough I personally prefer simple but touching keys over very complex arrangements, which sometimes sound quite empty. This style is all about feelings and though the keys are not absolutely impressive these simple pianos have a relevant role in songs like the previously mentioned one or “I Tiho Vetly Shelestyat”, where they sound better than in any other song. With “Teni Oktyabrya” Lorelei confirms what we were expecting from them. Their sophomore album is a remarkable work of an emotional and melancholic death/doom/gothic metal and a very loyal effort to the genre. This album will be a pleasure for the ears for those fans who want to listen to something classic and far from adventurous experimentations.

(Alain González Artola)

Review
Doomed to Darkness
8/10
16.11.2017

Lorelei are a band from Russia that plays a mixture of goth, doom and death metal and this is a review of their 2017 album “Shadows Of October” which will be released on November 24th by Solitude Productions.

Clean playing and melodic guitar leads start off the album along with all of the musical instruments having a very powerful sound to them before adding in more of a heavier doom metal direction and when vocals are added onto the recording they are mostly death metal growls and the music is heavily rooted in the early 90’s.

When keyboards are utilized they are done in a very tragic, atmospheric and gothic style while some of the tracks are very long and epic in length along with the riffs also bringing in a great amount of melody and when screams are utilized they also add in a touch of black metal and when female vocals are utilized they give the music more of an operatic feeling, a couple of the later tracks are instrumentals and as the album progresses a brief use of spoken word parts can be heard and all of the music sticks to a very slow musical direction.

Lorelei plays a musical style that goes back to the 90’s atmospheric and gothic doom/death metal style, the production sounds very professional while the lyrics are written in Russian and cover dark and depressive themes.

In my opinion Lorelei are a very great sounding atmospheric mixture of goth, doom and death metal and if you are a fan of those musical genres, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE “Ya Severniy Veter” “I Teho Vetly Shelestyat” and “Canticum Angelorum”.

Author: OccultBlackMetal

Review
Rock Music Raider
8/10
20.12.2017

Bleak winds and an icy cold live outside of the RockmusicRaider offices. A snowstorm from the East is being delivered right now and the temperature drops rapidly towards absolute numbers. At least that is what this feels like these days. And I don’t even live in the frozen tundra of Siberia, even if it feels like it. This is supposed to be temperate over here. So, where did the friggin’ global warming go all of a sudden? But hey, you have no choice than to go with the flow. And enough whining for now.

So, what better time than now to finally look at a Death Doom Metal record from the Russian motherland. The band Lorelei just issued their sophomore album Shadows of October this November of 2017. And it should be worthy of your attention.

You’ll find a score of bands named after the famous rock above the Rhine river. This is where the lovely maiden used to sit and sing her siren song to the riverboat captains to make them lose their minds and crash onto the cliffs on that particular bend of the river. Never heard of the tale? Then it is a good time to read up on it.

It is – by the way – a mystery to me why so many bands name their bands after something famous. Or simply go for words that are already much in use. It dilutes their market value and increases marketing efforts exponentially. But hey, who am I, right? So back to the review: If you look for this particular band, then go for the doomsters from way over east in ice-cold Russia, not the UK or US-based gigs.

The band started in 2003 as a two member outfit in Eastern Siberia (there you go…). In 2009 they built a line-up in Moscow and increased their gig to currently seven musicians and vocalists. Starting out more in the symphonic area of all things metal, they saw the light and moved their main style to a lesser solicited genre, notably in the Doom Death Metal area. And it fits them pretty well, I’d like to add.

Lorelei sports an eclectic mix of Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal Insomnium style, a trifle My Silent Wake (in their former doom-laden incarnation, not today’s weird goofs) and a goodly dose of Paradise Lost. Shadows of October cloaks itself in a stout, yet still melodic Doom Death Metal robe. Slow, somber and – at times – grim riffs moderated by guitars and keyboards abound. The gruffly delivered, but tastily arranged growls risk to captivate you right from the start. And they take no prisoners with a no-nonsense approach to their metal. Shunning the usual intro, the band steps right into their bleak landscape of doom and depression. A point well made and delivered with a vengeance.

I particularly like the melodic taste Lorelei added to Shadows of October. This, together with the sporadic blurbs of female clear vocals, takes their tune out of the die-hard mainstream. Into an area that no great number of bands visited before. So, all is cool then, right? Well, come again.

The band’s explicit choice to sing solely in Russian clearly works against them. This can be a great attribute if you want to stay underground as a band and only serve the limited crowd dwelling there. If, however, you want to rise and shine, then another formula might be better. Not all needs to be in English, though. There is no need to bow to the mighty Gods of Rock that the US music industry managed to install so successfully after the last big war. But I have seen bands using a mix of their native tongue and English language to great success. Take Todtgelichter for instance: They use German for drama when it suits them and go for English suddenly to startle the listener. This together with their very unique style really makes you pay attention and keeps you on your toes.

Then there is the repetition bug. After a while a certain lack of variation installs itself into the tune Shadows of October presents. If there is nothing to startle the listener out his or her reverie, then all of a sudden the album is over. And you ask yourself what just happened. On the production side things look quite positive, albeit just on the good side of the infamous brick wall.

In all, however, Lorelei managed to produce a pretty sturdy album. Shadows of October takes Death Doom Metal to the next level. Gruff and solemn, meaty yet refined, the album solidly installs itself in the genre. However, by adding intricate melodic elements and occasional bursts of female clear vocals, the band takes this record out of the vile mainstream and into a realm where the mists of depression are less crowded. This is another underrated band that I would like to see more of. But this can only be done once they start to move more center-stage and gain more visibility on the world scene. Cool record, though. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Author: RockmusicRaider

Review
Iye Zine
7.8/10
10.01.2018

I russi Lorelei avevano dato alle stampe una delle opere migliori in ambito gothic doom del 2013 con Ugrjumye Volny Studenogo Morja, e dopo oltre quattro anni ritornano finalmente con il suo successore intitolato Teni Oktyabrya (Shadows Of October).

Anche se quattro anni non sono pochi, tutto sommato le coordinate del sound sono rimaste le stesse, il che non è poi un male, vista l’alta qualità esibita in passato: le variazioni fondamentali riguardano l’ingresso in pianta stabile di un vocalist dedito al growl, nella persona di Alexey Kuznetsov (Locus Titanic Funus), quando invece nel precedente lavoro queste parti erano state affidate in qualità di ospite ad uno dei personaggi più influenti della scena doom moscovita quale è Evander Sinque, e la quasi totale rinuncia all’apporto della voce femminile, relegata ad uno sporadico ruolo di mero accompagnamento.
Nello scambio i Lorelei non ci rimettono e non ci guadagnano, perché tutto sommato Kuznetsov si rivela un ottimo interprete, mentre il venir meno del consueto fraseggio tra la bella e la bestia rende per certi versi meno scontato il tutto, rendendo il tutto però leggermente meno vario.
La band guidata da Alex Ignatovich ripropone un gothic comunque di matrice fortemente “draconiana” e con un notevole gusto melodico, il che consente di offrire con buona continuità brani intensi, intrisi di un sentore malinconico e marchiati con forza dall’imprinting di quella che, ormai, si può definire una scuola vera a propria in ambito doom come quella russa.
Come per il suo predecessore, ai fini di un potenziale sbocco commerciale al di fuori dei confini dell’ex-Urss, Teni Oktyabrya potrebbe soffrire la scelta dei Lorelei di proseguire con la loro autarchia lirica, continuando a sciorinare il tutto in lingua madre, cosa che inevitabilmente qualcosina lascia per strada a livello di immediata fruibilità.
Personalmente ritengo la cosa men che veniale, per cui invito caldamente ogni appassionato ad ascoltare questo bellissimo lavoro, che a mio avviso è un autentico esempio di come debba essere trattata la materia, andando dritti all’obiettivo senza divagazioni di sorta, mantenendo quell’aura tragicamente romantica che magari non sarà una novità ma che, nel contempo, non ci stanca mai di ascoltare: i Lorelei gratificano l’ascoltatore con una serie di brani fluidi e convincenti come Ya – Severniy Veter, la title track, Temnaya Voda e la superba e conclusiva Canticum Angelorum, suggello di un lavoro di notevole qualità.

Author: STEFANO CAVANNA

Review
Metal Temple
7/10
13.02.2018

“Shadows of October” is the second full-length by Russian gothic doom merchants LORELEI. Their band name is also shared by a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine in Germany, as well as a feminine water spirit associated with the rock in folklore. This is the band’s first album in four years.

The music has a fragile, melancholy beauty to it, which manifests through the “crystal keys” courtesy of Marina Ignatovich. Her piano parts often serve to add to a sense of pathos on the tracks, such as on “Северный Берег” and “Canticum Angelorum”. In general, I felt that the second half of the album was where the band were at their best. It’s where the music has one of the factors I enjoy the most about doom metal, which is a sincere conveyance of deeply-felt emotion.

The title track, “Тени Октября”, opens with slowly picked riffs, which adds a melancholy, wistful feeling. The cymbal fills evoke a cascade of emotion all at once, as do the piano notes. The section with slower piano notes contrasts with the bends and slides of the guitars, creating a sense of conflict. The clean vocals near the end were a good surprise. “Северный Берег” picks up the pace somewhat, with soaring violins. The reverb-filled guitar riffs add a sense of mystery. The drum work is crisp (the production in general is well-mixed), and powerful. A quieter section with delicately-picked riffs provides variation in the heavy soundscape. The drawn-out vocals in the coda end the track on a powerful note. “Темная Вода” creates a sense of fragility and sadness, with the tentative clean riffs in the intro, moving guitar riffs and vocals, and a section of slow guitar strumming. The piano break with “falling” notes adds pathos to the track. “Ноябрь” is a short, yet no less powerful interlude with moving piano counter-melodies. “Canticum Angelorum” ends things off beautifully. The piano parts (accurately described as “crystal keys” in the promo material) come together with bendy, distant guitar riffs and a brooding bass guitar part to create a moving listening experience. The strings near the end of the track give a sense of the divine.

I’d like to see more of what LORELEI did on the great second half of the album when they release their next album. The album as a whole grew on me, but the second half was what made me come to enjoy the album more. The band seems to have found just the right balance between the gothic elements and the death-doom elements.

Songwriting: 7
Originality: 7
Memorability: 7
Production: 8

Author: Lauren Fonto