Kevin Ashburn
With each new release, there is always the question of whether the Swedes can, at the very least, match their own insanely high bar and, as they have done so effortlessly in the past, even clear it.
In The Shadow Of Your Shadow, absolutely meets the standards expected of a Cult Of Luna album, while taking a few risks and making some refreshing left turns. From a production standpoint, everything is coated in an extra layer of grit, taking on a sonic palette more aligned with extreme metal than before. This stylistic choice, along with Johannes Persson opting for a gruffer vocal performance, makes In The Shadow Of Your Shadow feel somehow earthier, more human. It adds extra weight to the blindingly brilliant final stretches of a track like ‘Breach’ and perfectly aligns with the hardcore-inspired ‘The Rift’, which employs a frenetic tempo that Cult Of Luna have hardly ever employed through their career but works so well when used in this context. Pairing up with Gojira’s Joe Duplantier for ‘Sadness Will Reign’ is inspired, and the mix of his inimitable vocal with Persson’s refreshed take is glorious cacophony.
Even in the mellower moments, there is a brooding sense of menace brought on just by this tweak in the sound. ‘Landby’, with its languid sliding melodies, feels simple on the surface but adds to the subterranean atmosphere, while ‘A Way Back’, with its dark Americana, lead sumptuously by Frederik Kihlberg, weaves a whispering melancholy that is beautifully layered and wrought with emotion that provides a delightful, yet unsettling, reprieve to the rest of the record.
In The Shadow Of Your Shadow, however, is not without a stumbling block. The inclusion of Wovenhand’s David Eugene Edwards comes across as a tad melodramatic, and while the musicality of ‘One More Day’ is classic Cult Of Luna in almost every other respect, this collaboration, despite the authentic admiration the band have for Edwards, is a misfire that struggles to come back from within the boundaries of the song. It also suffers from perhaps an unfair comparison to the collaboration with the late, great Mark Lanegan on ‘Inside Of A Dream’ back in 2021. However, they more than make up for it by the time ‘Burial’ closes out the record with quite possibly some of the greatest riffs that exist within the post-metal genre, and the Umea legends close out another chapter with fireworks.
While the jury is still out on whether In The Shadow Of Your Shadow will be considered a classic within the Cult Of Luna catalogue, what is inarguable is that it showcases a band that are still willing to experiment and push beyond any preconceived notion of what they are, without completely throwing the baby out with the bathwater. As a foundation for a new era, In The Shadow Of Your Shadow is as solid as they come.