Review: Lamentari – Ex Umbra in Lucem

Style: Black Metal, Symphonic Metal (Harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Emperor, Ihsahn (especially his new album), Fleshgod Apocalypse, Septicflesh, Limbonic Art
Country: Denmark
Release date: 24 May 2024

I’m a prog and prog death guy at heart. Black metal never really made an impression on me—most of what I’d heard was the raw, lo-fi stuff and I wasn’t a fan—but years ago I ended up cruising the progressive metal underground looking for hidden gems and came across what was, weirdly enough, the first black metal band I actually really liked. Lamentari’s enormous production value, their reverence for orchestra and choir, and their thunderous grandiosity were an instant hit with me, and I was ahead of the curve enough to be the one to introduce my symphonic black metal obsessed colleague, Andy, to them, too. 

After two astonishingly tight EPs and one epic standalone single, expectations were high for a debut album, and when it was finally announced, myself, Andy and Zach all lost our collective shit. If you liked the new Ihsahn self-titled earlier this year, which saw Emperor’s legendary frontman break out the orchestra, you’ll love Lamentari. They’ve been doing the symphonic black metal shtick since 2019 and have consistently recorded with real orchestras and choirs to take their sound to new levels of extravagance. 

Straddling traditional black metal standards like tremolo-picked riffs and blast beats, with the greater complexity of progressive death metal riffing and singer Daniel Lønberg’s vituperative, gnashing harshes, Lamentari’s style has an operatic intensity. Much of that is down to the symphonic accompaniment, orchestrated by keyboardist Max Uldahl; citing legendary composers Howard Shore and John Williams as their main orchestral influences, that sense of soundtrack bombast is a huge part of Lamentari’s ridiculous intensity: thunderous brass swells, choir straight out of a demon summoning scene in a splatterfest horror flick, and urgent strings consistently elevate the compositions. If Aquilus are black metal’s Debussy tenderly tinkling the ivories, then Lamentari are Holst evoking the bellicosity of Mars, Wagner portending the valkyries, Lydia Tár rugby tackling her replacement; theatrical, frenzied, and given over to wild excess. 

There are quieter moments, such as Jamie de la Sencerie’s understatedly glorious fretless bass solo over pensive choir on “Tragoedia In Domo Dei”, but a lot of the time Lamentari are so in your face it’s ridiculous. On “Appugno”, for example, strings swoop and brass pulsates as the tempo rapidly accelerates into an insane solo, which breaks off quickly to a lone tapping lick underneath which the orchestra and choir swell repeatedly heralding the solo’s return. Indeed, the frankly jaw-dropping lead guitar work of Emil Holst Partsch is a huge part of Lamentari’s ostenatiousness, sweeping and shredding his way through the whole album, whammying his way up to absurdly high notes that sound like they’re coming from a goddamn theremin, and yet always imbuing proceedings with a wonderful sense of melody, leading to moments as sublime as the mid-section of “Intra Muros Mentis” where intense sweeps and rhapsodic orchestral swells make for one of the most gleefully over-the-top moments on an album already rich in musical magniloquence. Michael Møller provides rhythm to Partsch’s lead, and works in perfect concert with drummer Thomas Mascagni, both weaving intense playing between a symphonic style with frequent caesuras and tonal transforms.

However, there are some mild fumbles to contend with. Now, don’t get me wrong, everything on this album rips, and there’s never a sour note. However, “Dolorum Memoria” attempts a more restrained mode, opening with gorgeous flamenco and whispered harshes that slowly intensify as the song builds post-metal style to a crescendous release. A meditation on grief, it’s the most ambitious stylistic swing on the album, but the whispered harshes don’t quite work—it’s only when the song finally ascends to its grandiose climax that the song comes together. However, I appreciate the ambition and I’d love to see more of that—what would Lamentari sound like with a guest opera singer ala Fleshgod Apocalypse? Harpsichords? Gregorian chants? Obscure instruments and world music influences? A full forty minute symphony? This combination of genres has limitless potential, and if any band could find the best ways to utilise them, it’s these guys.

After penultimate orchestral interlude “Spiritus Diurnus” you’re expecting a real blindside, but closer “Arcanum Ignis Animae”, though as great as any of its peers, feels like it could have comfortably sat anywhere on the album. At a fleeting thirty-eight minutes, Ex Umbra in Lucem is a rather short record. An epic finale like “Confutatis” and “Iconostasis” from their previous EPs—or even just rehoming the standalone single “Nihilitatis” as a closer, something I suggested to my fellow Subway reviewers who coined it Ex Umbra in Lucem (Chris’s Version); send my royalties in cash, please—would’ve rounded the album up to a solid fifty minutes in runtime and ended proceedings with an even bigger bang, and I can’t help but feel the album would be stronger for having been capped off in such an extravagant way. That said, these are the quibbles of a fan who’s been waiting four years for this debut full-length and allowed his imagination to get the better of him. Lamentari execute some incredible feats here, and if my expectations were set a little too high, it’s only because I know what fantastic musicians these guys are. 

Some of black metal’s leading luminaries have released fantastic material so far in 2024, but Lamentari may well have bested all of them. Uncompromising, dramatic, and virtuosic, Ex Umbra in Lucem is nearly everything I wanted from a Lamentari full length, a defiant statement from one of black metal’s most exciting new voices.

Recommended tracks: Tragoedia In Domo Dei, Intra Muros Mentis, Appugno
You may also like: Aquilus, Thy Shining Curse, Xanthochroid
Final verdict: 8.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Independent

Lamentari is:
– Daniel Lønberg (vocals)
– Emil Holst Partsch (guitars)
– Michael Møller (guitars)
– Jamie de la Sencerie (bass)
– Max Uldahl (keys and orchestrations)
– Thomas Mascagni (drums)