It's not often you hear about quality black metal coming from Spain, but Lux Divina have been one of the country's best kept secrets for close to a decade now. After a string of demos and EPs, Lux Divina are now unleashing their debut full length release From the Tomb to Nature's Blood, a strong album that might not be the most unique extreme metal release you will ever hear, but nevertheless is one hell of a Pagan Metal collection.
The press sheet lists that Lux Divina will appeal to fans of early Borkgagar, Agalloch, Emperor, and Wolves in the Throne Room, and for the most part that's pretty accurate. Dark, folky, and atmospheric passages mix with moments of pure aggressive bombast, and there's a nice variety of both harsh black metal vocals & clean melodic singing, which especially hits on the Borknagar influence. There's also a decidedly cold & chilling feeling happening on many of these songs, which brings to mind some of the classic bands on the Norwegian scene, as well as some of the newer American bands, especially Wolves in the Throne Room. "The Mother Nature's Tomb" sees the band firing on all cylinders, clean vocals and deadly rasps combating over a multitude of rapid blast beats and furious tremelo picked guitar riffs, yet there's a deathly atmosphere hanging over the entire tune that's quite compelling. Of course, it wouldn't be a pagan/folk metal release without some acoustic guitar, and there's a healthy sprinkling of that here-check out the inspiring "The Oracle Of Funeral Trees", an adventurous piece with layers of electric & acoustic guitars and effecting mixing of vocal styles. The cover & booklet artwork is nicely done, perfectly conjuring up images of cold, desolate woods & terrain.
If the whole black/pagan/folk metal genre is your thing, you could do a lot worse than picking up a copy of From the Tomb to Nature's Blood. Lux Divina are a talented band, and I think we are all going to have to keep a close eye on them in the months and years to come.
Track Listing
01. Forgotten Divinity Part I
02. Bloody Herbs Of Revenge
03. Praise Hymn To The Horned God
04. The Mother Nature's Tomb
05. Serpent's Philosophy
06. The Oracle Of Funeral Trees
07. On Nature My Existence Disappear
08. Black Goddess' Mountains
09. To Darkened Catacombs
10. Naturalistic Cults
11. Forgotten Divinity Part II
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