Lotus Thief – Rervm

Album Review by Will Fitzpatrick | 27 Nov 2014
Album title: Rervm
Artist: Lotus Thief
Label: SVART
Release date: 1 Dec

An epic metal opus, based on ancient Roman philosophical verse – Spinal Tap levels of hubris and folly, right? Well, no, as it turns out. Rervm is rather good. Pulling from doom, ambient and slowcore stylings, with more than a few nods towards the spaced-out shimmer of nu-psych, San Francisco’s Lotus Thief pull no punches in their sonic vastness. Inevitably bombastic – well, it is based on Lucretius’ De Rerem Natura – this thoroughly impressive debut transcends the supposedly-ugly facets of crushingly heavy music.

Take Miseras, with its furious blast-beats: a technique not exactly renowned for its proclivity towards ethereal grace, and yet that’s exactly how it’s deployed here. The cinematic sweep of the melody refocuses power as texture, rather than sheer brute force – surely black metal’s greatest trick. Elsewhere, the gloomy dropout that tears Discere Credas wide open points to an unexpected grasp of subtlety, generously garnishing the album’s solemn wonder. 

http://svartrecords.com