Post-metal. On the evidence of this live set from Sweden’s Cult Of Luna, it’s basically metal without the fun bits.
Filmed in La Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, last year, the Swedes begin with The Sweep followed by Light Chaser from 2013’s Vertikal II which demonstrates the band’s approach and shortcomings in a nutshell. It’s a single musical phrase repeated ad nauseam for almost seven minutes. Growling is a well-established death metal technique, but vocalist Fredrik Kihlberg is completely unintelligible and there’s no link between his atonal screaming and the music either in terms of pitch or rhythm. The band play every track from 2006’s Somewhere Along The Highway. And With Her Came The Birds provides a merciful respite from the sonic pummelling, while I: The Weapon, from Vertikal, has a dynamic range running from loud to a bit louder. The light show is impressively flashy, although the musicians show no inclination towards showmanship. The DVD is accompanied by two CDs capturing the band at Roadburn Festival in 2013 and 2016. If you love a good, long drone, this is the mother lode. But if you want to watch a band actually develop their musical ideas, try Meshuggah’s The Ophidian Trek instead.
