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Ludicra: The tenant

09/11/10 || Khlysty

“The Tenant” (“Le Locataire”) is one of the most impressive films by Roman Polanski. It’s what the critics call a “psychological thriller” and the first time I saw it, I was surprised to find myself totally creeped out by a seemingly simple outset, about a guy who rents an apartment and, afterward, starts slowly lapsing into paranoia and gradual mental disintegration. Polanski seems to be able to exploit even the most mundane of situation to create a sense of dislocation and horror.

“The Tenant” is the fourth full-length by San Francisco’s best, the female-fronted Ludicra, and is one of the most impressive records to come out in 2010. It’s what the critics call a “progressive black metal” record and the first time I listened to it, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself totally immersed into Ludicra’s seemingly simple use of generally known musical elements that the band combines ingeniously to create something that’s totally unique and imminently enjoyable, even by fans who do not really enjoy black metal.

See, Ludicra is a band that, even from its earliest days seemed to try to set itself apart from the rest of USBM crowd. Not only by having a lady singing (ehm, screeching) and another lady as lead guitarist, but, also, by infusing their black metal with quite a lot of shading: in their songs, under the blazing tremolo picking and blasting, one could discern elements of anthemic metal, folk, punk, or even post-rock, carefully placed into the structures, so as to create a sound that was unique and extremely interesting, placing the band in the forefront of USBM, or, if one wants to be more exact, in the forefront of US “gray metal”, as Agalloch has smartly put it.

If there’s one thing that clearly stamps Ludicra’s work, that’s “evolution”. From record to record the band slowly but surely adds more and more outside elements on their black metal core, creating a sound that’s wholly unique. So, it is not surprising that with “The Tenant” Ludicra reaches a peak in song craft, performance and production values. I have already mentioned Agalloch once in this review and I will mention them again, as Ludicra seems to be moving towards Agalloch’s brand of music, a heady mixture of black metal ferocity, progressive tendencies, folkish detours, melodic injections and straight-up hard rocking bravado.

Each and every song contained here has a character of its own, being instantly memorable and demanding the listener’s full attention, so as to be able to absorb everything that goes on into it. The band moves easily from black metal venom, to subdued acoustic melodic passages, to galloping parts, clearly reminiscent of the best NWOBHM heritage, to even post-rock-influenced compositional choices. These disparate musical elements are ingeniously combined to create a whole that’s harrowing as it is compelling and listenable, as far removed from Ludicra’s clear black metal past, as it is characteristically theirs.

To cap things off, I’ll tell you that the instrumental prowess of the band members is monumental, that the production is warm and organic, while never subtracting from the songs ferocity and power, that the lyrics are poignant and smart and as far removed from the usual black metal fodder and that, when all’s said and done, Ludicra is an extremely important band and that “The Tenant” is one of those records that, if the listener stops and absorbs it, will offer a great reward. Great music by a great band.

8,5

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Profound Lore
Website: www.ludicra.org
Band
Laurie Sue Shanaman: vocals
Christy Cather: guitars, vocals
John Cobbett: guitars
Ross Sewage: bass
Aesop Dekker: drums

Tracklist
01. Stagnant pond
02. A larger silence
03. In stable
04. The undercaste
05. Clean white void
06. Truth won’t set you free
07. The tenant

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