Lvcifyre - The Calling Depths

Talk about relentless battering. Some death metal bands get to you by letting you fall into their nasty sludge while others simply pummel you relentlessly with a rapid fire attack of blinding riffs and super human drumming until you just look like jelly. Such is the case of London’s Lucifyre, who don’t take a breather and show stamina that anyone from a XXX long-rod actor to a drug-free Lance Armstrong would envy. Would I be surprised if someone accuses them of doping? Fuck no. Listening to The Calling Depths, their first full length following their Dying Light Ov God Ep from 2009, is impressive that a quartet can go about for forty two minutes and not take a breather. This is a record, I know. They take breaks, and space the tracking between a number of days, but if Lucifyre can replicate this in the live setting, then shit.

And the devil is in the details. Literally. Lucifyre play technical blackened death metal, not unlike a variety of fairly big acts that I won’t even bother mentioning. The riffs are impressive, but you’d need to slice them up and break them apart, then drop the drums and the vocals to really catch what guitarists Dictator and T Kaos are doing. You know, it’s fast riffage paired to constant blast beats, then a chug-friendly two second bit breaks it apart. Then brutality ensues as if it hadn’t ensued before. Not impressive for 2012 standards, but mighty good and brutal nevertheless. Does it stand head and shoulders above the rest? It depends who you ask, I suppose.

One thing, the technical aspect can be overlooked. Meaning it is not overbearing or contrived. There are scales in fact, so many scales and so much fingerwork that if you pay close attention you may get a bit neauseous. There is fast and faster and then dozens of variations on fast. Was just checking out “Husk of Impurity” and it sounds like the big bang. Impressive, if what they wanted was to do just that, cymbals galore.

The Calling Depths features a nearly flawless production job. The tones are perfect, there is a not a bit of harshness or stridency to the recording, however it is still in your face, fat and heavy. That’s why I was surprised to find out that it was recorded (or transmitted to mankind, as it is stated in the insert) back in 2010 and not released until recently. Certainly, it wasn’t shame that kept this recording in the vault.