LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE
Bleeding The Stars
Oblivion/SPV GmBH
4.5/5
After my third listen of the latest and may I state one of the greatest; Lacrimas Profundere albums that I’ve heard in their catalogue, Bleeding The Stars is a mixture of the band’s early doom/death style with a coupling of their modern Gothic mentalities and even some dark rock elements for good measure. There’s a little bit of everything here, which is also why I question the opener of the album so much. “I Knew and Will Forever Know” is a decent enough song with a sullen backing and a mixture of clean and harsh vocals, but it doesn’t actually sound very much like the Lacrimas Profundere I am familiar with. Nevertheless, it opens the record on a surprisingly heavy note before rolling back into the familiar Goth metal territory of “Celestite Woman.” Obvious HIM comparisons could be made here as it is very much a love metal track, but these comparisons have been made since Ave End, I’m quite sure.
The band performs another change with “The Kingdom Solicitude” which definitely feels more like death/doom, giving more of a Saturnus or Swallow The Sun vibe. There are still a handful of Drac-reminiscent clean vocal croons, but the chorus is so frighteningly heavy that I don’t think fans will see it coming. I’m certainly digging it and think that even people who aren’t familiar with the band or haven’t listened to them since the early days will find it refreshing. This leads right into “Mother Of Doom” which is my personal favorite cut on the album, as it follows in the same vein of “Celestite Woman” though runs at a far slower pace. The chorus is sickeningly sweet though, which is why I could blast it for days.
“Father Of Fate” follows the same formula as “The Kingdom Solicitude” and delivers an equally harsh chorus with a much faster all-around pace. They’re definitely embracing their metal roots on this album and I think it was a great idea to do so. The fans though, will be the ultimate judges in regards to this entirely unexpected series of changes. “Like Screams In Empty Halls” however, exercises the opposite of the aforementioned and replaces the harsh vocal choruses with clean pieces that sound wonderful mixed in with what could be described as far heavier verse nodes. It’s still love metal, but with a bite that we haven’t heard from this genre in years.
Without describing the record in any further details and possibly spoiling the majority of it in the process, I’m quite pleased with Bleeding The Stars and would certainly consider it among some of the band’s best releases. It’s not quite the old stuff, but they’re certainly not forgetting where they’ve come from. If you need a little more death in your doom, you know where to look – but to see death, doom, gothic and dark rock elements playing together in so lovely as a package as this was well worth the experience. So much so that I’m already on my fourth listen. I also need to stress that there will be a bonus disc included with this release that features two non-album tracks with the current frontmen of Lord Of The Lost and The Vision Bleak. These are both acts that I highly respect just as much as Lacrimas Profundere, so you will want to pick that up. The band claims that these tracks will not be available on any streaming service either, so make sure that you grab a copy of the album so that you can experience what even this reviewer wasn’t able to. A bit of a drag, but I’ll live.
Bleeding The Stars shows the band at their best in years and I think you’ll love it as much as I have. It’s not just Gothic metal this time and I’m quite thankful for that. After all these years, Lacrimas Profundere have demonstrated that they’re stronger than ever, with their most mature sounding record to date.