Review: Panopticon – Laurentian Blue

Style: country, Americana, neofolk (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Me and That Man, Agalloch, 16 Horsepower, John Fahey
Country: United States
Release date: 15 August 2025

Panopticon are inarguably one of the greatest American black metal bands ever. Sure, Agalloch, Wolves in the Throne Room, and even something like Deafheaven have equally strong claims to the title, but Austin Lunn’s Kentucky-then-Minnesota influenced musical endeavours feel more American than any of them. The bluegrass which permeates his earlier work and the gorgeous blizzardy violence of the later records both fuse perfectly with his metal style. All in all, The Rime of Memory is my favorite American black metal record ever for a reason. But dropping the black metal isn’t new for Panopticon (see: The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness (disc II)), so an all dark folk accompaniment album to 2021’s …And Again into the Light isn’t an unexpected choice for Lunn to make. I was just excited to see how it coalesced.

Laurentian Blue is a simple, stripped-back record. The tracks (with the exception of two we’ll get to later) solely consist of finger-picked acoustic guitar, Austin Lunn’s husky vocals, and, on occasion, violin accompaniment. The instrumentation, although barren, serenely captures the air of camping on the frontier, down to the smoky haze emanating from the harmonizing violins. Lunn’s strumming and finger-picked arpeggios are minimalist through and through, yes, but they are deeply resonant and morose; it’s easy to hear Lunn’s mountainous inspiration¹ come through in the final product—despite the warmth of the campfire, the biting cold of the outside world is right there.

But with the minimalist approach to the accompaniment, Lunn’s voice and lyrics are the focal point of Laurentian Blue. Throughout the record, Lunn is extremely matter-of-fact, practically speaking his poetry with just a minor influx of outright melody. He tells things how they are. Thankfully, his lyricism is at its strongest ever, the poetry full of lustral confession. In “This Mortal Coil’s Rusted,” Lunn sings about persevering through his darkest hour for the sake of his sons. In stark contrast, “I Want to Be Alone” sings about the need for isolation: “I want to be alone / I need to touch each stone / face the grey that I have grown / I want to be alone.” Yet despite the poignant lyricism, I cannot click emotionally with Laurentian Blue because of how understated Lunn’s vocals are—to the point of even being lost on lower notes like in “The Poetry in Roadkill.” There is never a climax or major change in inflection. His crackling, blunt delivery leaves too much for the imagination, and I’m left with a sense of unease at the preternatural Americana. 

In the middle of the record, however, Lunn chooses to seemingly randomly shift the paradigm (before promptly switching back to depressing, suppressed folk music right after). First up, “An Argument with God” immediately feels more badass than the rest because it has percussion. It also comes with Lunn’s spoken word, a welcome change after the almost spoken singing before it. The literal “dialogue with God” in the track, performed by two characters, is full of fire lines about humanity and divinity, and the outright Western twang of some of the guitar notes is satisfying and on point. The next track, “Irony and Actuality,” is a fast-paced bluegrass banger, with racing banjos and fiddle. The track is unhinged to include in the middle of an album that’s 95% brooding American folk music, but it’s riotous, a fun intermission of sorts before Laurentian Blue spirals back down to depression. 

Laurentian Blue clearly was a cathartic record for Lunn to make, yet the record doesn’t elicit any strong emotions from me beyond a surface level sense of despair—and I just need to read the news for that. The record is an enjoyable Americana album, but the artistry doesn’t go much deeper than that, and with Lunn singing with a poker face throughout, I simply don’t resonate with the record as much as I’d expected given Panopticon’s track record.

Recommended tracks: An Argument with God, Irony and Actuality, Broken Bars
You may also like: Nechochwen, Richard Inman
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Official Website | Instagram | Metal-Archives

Label: Birdrune Recordings – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Panopticon is:
A. Lunn : Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Resonator Guitar, Acoustic Bass, Square Neck Resonator, Accordion
Charlie Anderson : Violin, Backing Vocals
Andrea Morgan : Violin, Backing Vocals
William Seay: Spoken voice on ” An argument with God”
Karl Burke: Spoken Voice on ” An argument with God”

1. The Laurentian in the title refers to the Laurentian Mountain range in Québec. I urge you to look up some pictures because it’s gorgeous ↩︎