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The American one-man band Lazer Throne, led by multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Buchanan, after a single in 2022 and the EP "Citadel of the Elder Star" in 2023, releases its first full-length in June 2025: "Tomb of the Lunar Oracle", released digitally independently and physically by Northern Silence Productions.
"Tomb of the Lunar Oracle" presents atmospheric and cosmic black metal, enriched by ambient samples. To understand the approach, it’s better not to think of the atonal convulsions of Darkspace, but rather of entities like Mesarthim, Paysage d’Hiver, and Midnight Odyssey—though without the interminable suites that characterize the latter two. The ambient sections, with a cosmic and spiritual flavor, blend with the grammar of 90s atmospheric black, on a deliberately raw production. The scream, a muffled and heart-wrenching lament, seems to emerge from the depths of a cave. In the more traditional moments, the Poles Evilfeast also come to mind. What strikes is the balance between the primordial black flame and a more reflective and enveloping sensitivity, enriched with epic and captivating veins in the more sustained passages. All condensed into 41 minutes: an unusually contained time for this genre’s variation, thus demonstrating a remarkable, and welcome, capacity for synthesis.
"Tomb of the Lunar Oracle" is a journey that begins from a tomb orbiting around a dead star and leads through sound frescos of melancholic and metallic synths, imbued with celestial blood... Characterized by a doom vein that accentuates its immersive and magnetic nature, partly recalling the Australians Astral Silence—but without falling into imitation. The stylistic maturity of Lazer Throne, considering it is a debut, is truly surprising.
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