The band’s name gives a clue. “Lure of Ephemeral Beauty” is indeed eclectic in style. It is also strange. After a brief film track introduction, the album proceeds with a deliberately raw 90s style black metal riff, accompanied by high-pitched female operatic vocals and growls. It’s mobile, and now and then something appears above this musical crack in the pavement. “Cyclic Anagnorisis” breaks out explosively. The fast rhythm becomes all-embracing, flamboyant and melancholic. “Sophist’s Death”: Legacy and Bitter Tears” drops back into the earlier hypnotic deadening riff. The operatic vocals sound bizarre in this context. I didn’t find them very pleasant either. The growls don’t do much either. The ghoulish whistling of a Burzum scene or Dimmu Borgir’s “For All Tid” can be heard. Through metal music, they seem to be indulging in the French predilection for the grotesque. Shouts and screams emerge and it’s as if someone’s being shot. The hybrid mix of black metal and not-so-beautiful opera singing borders on epic but my initial reaction was that it was just too schizophrenic for me to be truly captivating. There was music quality there but at this point Dijon’s Eclectika were not cutting the mustard for me here.
The mood changes with the sound of spoken words and the atmosphere of a dark dream land. There are more horrible screams and a world of pain and despair. This atmospheric gothic interlude is more promising. “Sweet Melancholia” begins. An orchestral beginning with what sounds like a harp makes a better backdrop for the operatic singer. The tones are like classical music but on a windy day. The acoustic, which is used to good effect on this album, represents the rustling of the leaves. There is co-ordination. Elements can be mixed after all. The dark gothic style suits Eclectika well. “Les Sept Vertus Capitales” is again slowed down. Even the black metal harshness gives breathing space for power and epic operatics. Gradually, this album has blossomed. The dark clouds can now enter our minds and souls as the growls and operatics enhance the sultry vista. There’s power and strength now. Is this the same album that I started to listen to? The grim build up of power on the disturbingly-titled “Handicapped Sex in a Mental Orgy” is as despairing as the bleak guitar line, which now captures us with its potent energy. Right on cue, Ms Operatic slips in with a silky and haunting vocal contribution. Sadness enters the fray, and the track ends, leaving our digestion of this magnetic track incomplete. This is not the end, in fact there’s a 10 minute track “Aokigahara” to finish. With its mysterious air and drama, it starts like a film soundtrack. As it built up to a steady background beat, I thought it was going to develop into an operatic gothic affair but it contents itself instead with staying instrumental and gothic to the end.
When I first heard “Lure of Ephemeral Beauty”, it just didn’t work for me. Although I appreciate the black/operatic contrast of the first few tracks more than I did now I’ve heard the album a few times, I’m still not entirely comfortable with it. That’s the first half of the album. I was knocked out by the second half. Once Eclectika allowed themselves room to expand and developed the extremely dark, gothic and cosmic atmospheres which their lyrics, it all fell into place. As an album, “Lure of Ephemeral Beauty” started to invade my world and for that I regard it as more of a hit than a miss.
(6.5 /10 Andrew Doherty)
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