Sometimes you just need a change of scenery when it comes to music. Predominantly dealing with thrash, stoner/doom and death metal can tire you out despite how much you enjoy what you are listening to, and this is where the synthwave and darkwave sounds come in. I’ve touched on a few of these over the years, enjoying things like New Retro Wave on YouTube and last year discovering the phenomenal MasterBootRecord who put out an incredible composition. Lumberghast, the brainchild of composer and wrestler Otto Von Lumberghast is the latest in line of these instrumental acts and his citing of influences including violent video games already has me intrigued more than I was when I saw it was darkwave inspired. So lock, load and go for centre mass if you can’t score a headshot… it’s shooting time.
With the album name and one of the inspirations being video games, my first thought naturally was the iconic DOOM franchise, a series of games which has plenty of violence and a pretty damn tight soundtrack to boot and initially you can already hear some of the DOOM (2016) soundtrack in various parts across the tracks. It might not have the crushing guitar backbone Mick Gordon’s soundtrack provided when you were waist deep in demons, but there are big tips of the hat to the man’s work. Big chords with plenty of dissonance and bite to them combined with the quirky sci-fi/technology themed samples and soundbytes help give it that overall atmosphere which was found in arguably the best modern era first person shooter game.
Video games aren’t just the only sonic influence. The whole release has vibes of Pendulum, the iconic drum and bass/electro-rock outfit who were absolutely massive in the tail end of the first decade of the 2000’s. The blend of electronica and rock/metal which Lumberghast has put forward has some similarities with the Aussie noise makers and as the release progresses, the duelling elements of the more metal inspired and electronica inspired clash and work together to help give a unique sound.
Despite this, for me there is little what stands out and catches the attention. ‘Splatterhouse’ is a good track with its nasty distorted riff and high tempo electronica pulse, ‘665’ has a quirky synth motif and ‘Slap Cannon’ is a really strong drum and bass offering. Outside of that, the rest is pretty average. The release is 21 minutes long which means it goes by pretty quickly if you suddenly lose focus whilst listening to it and you only realize well after the fact, it has ended and you’ve been sitting in silence for some time afterwards. Whilst this might help for replayability, it’s not something to stick on if you want to sit down and really listen to something.
“First Person Shooter” on the whole is a few rounds short of a full magazine. It’s got some good hooks and sequences but it’s not as electrifying as what the ol’ PR note made it out to be, especially when the presser said if you love the titans of darkwave, you’ll love this. There is potential in Lumberghast, this release is just a few steps short of realising it.
(6/10 Fraggle)
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