Illuminate

Another new band from the productive France is Lihporcen which was created in 2010 by Lahtia, the only member of the band, and he has released one demo and the full length album “Illuminate” of 2011. The album contains eight tracks mainly of slow Black Metal that combines the dsBM atmosphere with the dirt sound of clumsy, straightforward Black Metal.

The riffs are limited in slow to mid tempo speed and although they are clumsy and simple, they can keep the listener’s interest once with the melancholic slow and once with the mid tempo rhythmic parts. The guitars deliver the riffs well but they don’t have anything special. The bass plays an important role in the compositions since it is in the frontline and maybe is louder than the guitar, it is clumsy but I like that it is so intense in the tracks. The drums are simple, slow, they do their job without playing a leading role. The voice is typical harsh Black Metal voice, quite good and expressive. The production is quite bassy but clean and it fits well to the music and to the compositions’ style. The negative thing concerning the production is that it doesn’t have any tension and nerve something that affects the compositions too. The mix isn’t very good because as I mentioned before, many times the bass covers the guitar and the vocals and you can’t listen to the track. I think the lyrics are written in English but they are not included in the cd so I don’t know what they are about.

Lihporcen are trying with a few means, mainly technical, to create Black Metal. The truth is that if I exclude some problems mainly in the production and the mix, “Illuminate” isn’t a bad album. Surely it hasn’t anything new to offer neither anything very good concerning the music. However it can be pleasantly listened. I wouldn’t recommend it as in this sound there are much better releases. Maybe they will be better in their next release.