Cult of Luna
is a Swedish sludge/post-metal band from Umeå. They formed from the remnants of a Umeå hardcore punk band called Eclipse in 1998. They slowly garnered critical appreciation and underground popularity with early releases Cult of Luna
(2001) and The Beyond
(2003); however, it is 2004's Salvation
that can be considered their 'breakthrough' release. By cutting down on the somewhat esoteric use of aggression so indicative of doom, it appealed to a new group of fans. Its calmer sound has earned it favourable reviews in the mainstream music press, a reputation built upon for the release of Somewhere Along the Highway
in 2006, another largely well-received album.
In August 2006, the band released a remake of "Marching to the Heartbeats" from Somewhere Along the Highway
entitled "Heartbeats" solely on the internet community MySpace. The song was available for download for a few days and was later removed. The point was to see if the song would be kept alive by file sharing, and was also apparently a statement against the conservative music industry, says keyboardist Anders Teglund in an interview. [1]
In 2008 the band released its fifth album, Eternal Kingdom
. It was released in Europe on June 16, followed by its release in the United States on July 8.
In 2009 they released a DVD including a live performance from 2008, an interview with the band, as well as all of the band's videos. [2]
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CULT OF LUNA TICKETS
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Sound
Cult of Luna's sound has progressed from early material being heavily
doom metal influenced to one much less aggressive and more concerned with orchestration. Fans and critics have termed this sound
post-metal. The band is considered to be at the forefront of the genre, along with contemporary proponents
Neurosis and
Isis. Their evolution parallels that of the band Jesu.
Its songs are often long, slow, repetitive and crushing, heavy sections of distorted guitars often interspersed with orchestral interludes and extended,
post-rock-esque forays. The group shuns conventional song structures, opting for a sound that evolves throughout a song, sometimes toward a climactic
crescendo, instead of a
verse-chorus-verse pattern. That style, incorporating sections of "light and dark" into their music, has led to comparisons with contemporaries such as
Isis (with whom they have toured),
Callisto and
Pelican, as well as the significantly older
Neurosis. Singer Klas Rydberg, however, has stated that decidedly
Radiohead are an influence.
[3] Lately the band as well as their contemporaries have been heavily influenced by
Mogwai, particularly the use of guitar delay and melodic guitar playing.
Themes
The most notable running motif in Cult of Luna's lyrics is a preoccupation with the dangers of
globalisation and political
propaganda. This ties to the fact that six of the eight band members are
vegetarians. These concerns are not always addressed directly through the music; instead they are sometimes represented by vocal samples. For instance, on
The Beyond
, they use recordings of
Noam Chomsky's "Propaganda and control of the public mind". On "Inside Fort Meade", from
The Beyond
, the only lyrics are a quote attributed to
Benjamin Franklin: "If we surrender our liberty in the name of security we shall have neither". This is another hint at the somewhat
anarchic sentiments of the band. Earlier material, specifically the self-titled debut
Cult of Luna
states its purpose in somewhat darker terms: "The Revelation Embodied" includes lyrics "A time lost to the sick crowd of a new demonic realm/Oceans of blood have drowned all humanity[...]A time when the curse is alive/The horsemen have arrived". Another vitriolic political statement is made on "Circle", in a reference to the
Sabra and Shatila massacre, with lyrics reading "Sabra and Shatila rises and retaliates/An invitation that raises the dead/I have seen their fate". This reference displays anti-racist tendencies, to an almost militant extent. As the band progressed, the imagery they employed became less overt and less "
doom metal". In some ways, the albums showed a shift from
anger
with modern society as in
Cult of Luna
, to
disgust
with the ruling parties in
The Beyond
and
Salvation
. The for single "Leave Me Here" is concerned with propaganda and tacit governmental control over the individual. Similar concerns are addressed in contemporaries Isis'
Panopticon
, centered on the theme of
Big Brother-like government surveillance. Early material made
Christian references; to
the devil,
Faust [4] and the
four horsemen of the apocalypse. Over the course of following albums, these seem to have disappeared, though
Salvation
does have overarching spiritual themes.
Somewhere Along the Highway
is slightly different from the previous releases in its thematic basis. It focuses on personal matters, specifically male loneliness,
[5] instead of
macroscopic concerns addressed in previous albums.
Discography
- Split with Switchblade (7") (2000)
- Cult of Luna
(EP) (2001)
- Cult of Luna
(2001)
- The Beyond
(2003)
- Salvation
(2004)
- Somewhere Along the Highway
(2006)
- Eternal Kingdom
(2008)
- DVD Fire was Born
(2009)
They also released a demo before being signed to Earache, as well as a limited edition (1000 prints) two-track 7" just before the release of
Somewhere Along the Highway
. It features covers of "Bodies" by
The Smashing Pumpkins and "Recluse" by
Unbroken. They also featured on the
iTunes only Earache Records digital album "Beasts of Earache", with a song titled "Ascending From Below". This song is available on the bands myspace.
Videography
- "The Watchtower" (video edit 3:55) from The Beyond
(2003). Directed by Pete Bridgewater.
- "Leave Me Here" (video edit 4:27) from Salvation
(2005). Directed by Anders Forsman and Linus Johansson.
- "Back to Chapel Town" (video edit 4:30) from Somewhere Along the Highway
(2006). Directed by Johannes Persson.
All videos are also included on the 2009 DVD
Fire was Born
Members
- Klas Rydberg – vocals
- Johannes Persson – guitars, vocals
- Erik Olofsson – guitars
- Fredrik Kihlberg –guitar, vocals
- Andreas Johansson – bass guitar
- Anders Teglund – keyboards, samples
- Thomas Hedlund – drums, percussion
- Magnus Líndberg – drums, sound engineering
Previous members
- Marco Hildén – drums; appeared on Cult of Luna
and The Beyond
- Axel Stattin – bass guitar; appeared on Cult of Luna
Thomas Hedlund, Fredrik Kihlberg and Johannes Persson are also involved in
Khoma.
References
- Cult of Luna testar gränser
- http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=2732206&blogID=465279571
- Klas Rydberg interview
- "Beyond Fate": Take a seat next to thy devil[1]Still got so much more to give in this life/I guess I'm heading for regrets/Once I sold my soul/That's one sweet regret
- Erik Olofsson interview