Artist: Cult of Luna
Album: The Long Road North
Label: Metal Blade Records & Red Creek
Release Date: 02/11/2022
Location Umea, Sweden
Cult of Luna has lived in my bones for the better part of the last 2 decades. I first discovered them when I became a fan of Neurosis. They had a similar sound in the late 90’s and were the backbone of the Post-Metal scene alongside bands like Isis, Pelican, and Jesu but they quickly formed their own niche and ended up surviving past most of their peers.
In 2019 when “A Dawn to Fear” came out I didn’t think at the time there was any way that it could be topped. I was wrong. “The Long Road North” is absolutely a better album. Focused, full of tension and energy in a way that few bands in the genre are able to achieve. New sounds, more clean vocals than before, and packed with 69 minutes of music.
The album opens with “Cold Burn” and solidifies the experience you’re about to go on. A journey of a song touching on every aspect of what makes Cult of Luna amazing. “Beyond I” opens with beautiful female vocalist Mariam Wallentin and reaches a perfect crescendo into “An Offering to the Wild” all building to the last song proper “Blood Upon Stone” and closing the album with perfect ambiance of “Beyond II” everything about this album screams maturity and growth.
The future for Cult of Luna looks like a dark and beautiful landscape of sound and emotion. “The Long Road North” is easily their best and probably most important album because it’s albums like this that get noticed by outsiders. It’s albums like this that propel bands to heights they’ve never been to, and this is certainly that. This album demands the listener sit with it and consume it as a whole, it’s challenging and full of devotion to the craft, a craft that Cult of Luna may not have created but they most definitely lead.
Listen to and order the album:
Bandcamp
Spotify
Tidal
