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LUNGBURNER "Dogma"
LUNGBURNER "Dogma"
By Dr. Abner Mality
Meditative metal is an actual thing. There's not enough of it around to be an actual functioning subgenre (yet) but it's out there and that is the space where Atlanta's LUNGBURNER functions. I must say "Dogma" caught me by surprise. With the band name and cover art, I was expecting some angry groove metal or even straight nu-metal, but this is much more intellectual and interesting than that.
Doom plays a sizable part of the LUNGBURNER equation. Slow, undulating tempos predominate and the guitar tone is thick and heavy. But I wouldn't call it sludge as the music doesn't seem ugly enough for that. There's a kind of proggish TOOL feel, a touch of that nebulous sound called "modern metal" due to lack of anything better to call it, and there are some parts of this that are quite peaceful and melodic. Sounds like it might fit the post-metal tag, but LUNGBURNER is too heavy for that. "Misery" and "Rapture" are massive and powerful and Jens Anderberg's vocals lean to an almost death metal growl. A band working the same general territory is YOB, although again these guys are not that huge and overwhelming.
I can't quite put this into a neat box, but I know that I liked most of it. (Bharajan) "The Fall" is calm for half of its length but I didn't get bored with it. Same can be said for the nine minute "Pistus Sophia"...if there's a place where YOB's doom and TOOL's exploratory tones meet, this is it. So "Dogma" may not change your life (or maybe it will.,..who am I to say?) but it will provide a nice chewy bite of "thinking man's metal".
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