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 Absolutely incredible. May 10, 2009
I thought Cult of Luna's album Salvation couldn't be topped. When I got into Salvation, I was convinced for a long time that it was one of the pinnacles of the genre they play. Atmospheric, sludgy progressive... metal. This style is becoming more and more prominent in the metal scene these days, with Neurosis having spear headed it nearly ten years ago, and ISIS taking up the helm later on. Cult of Luna not only is able to keep up on adding their own style to this genre, they are able to perform it admirably.
Somewhere Along The Highway is no different. While it took me several weeks to fully digest, once I got it, I really got it. It sank in deep, like a movie you feel compelled to watch when a specific mood you feel needs to be accentuated. It sank in to my head and body like those rare albums do where it almost feels as if it is a part of you in some inexplicable way. As if you possibly could create something similar in another time and place.
This album is a very lonely album, portraying a mood of 'Saudade' thanks to the spacious soundscapes of exactly what the title hints at. While it is not without plenty of dense riffs, plodding bass and its share of screaming, it always manages to leave plenty of beautiful open air between moments of pure chaos. The two "bridge" sections in the song "Thirtyfour" has probably one of the most addicting and infectious percussion beats I've ever heard. Intertwined with this beat are very subtle vocals ringing out a melody which bring the two chaotic parts these bridge sections separate back together flawlessly.
The building crescendo on "Dim" is fairly reminiscent of a track from their previous album entitled "Waiting For You". What seems to start out mellow builds and compounds atop of its self until the momentum of the song is so dense, the only option for it ultimately is to come to a crashing end. Not only is this arguably the climax of the album, but if it isn't, it sets up the scope for the last few minutes of the album.
The use of synthesizer not only in this album, but by this band is so crucial to their overall atmosphere and the moods they attempt to convey. It tends to subtly layer a melody underneath several chugging guitars, which may even be mistaken for guitar its self. But on the biggest crescendos, it seems almost necessary.
However the synthesizer is not the only instrument responsible for some of the sounds in this album that almost sometimes go un-noticed. Other subtleties you may notice are that of the cabaça, samples of rhythmic hand clapping, tambourine, ebow and various uses of guitar feedback.
Probably what is the most mechanic track of the album would be the second one, "Finland". When I use the word mechanic, I would refer to this song as one that sounds almost like a steam engine pounding away at its pistons, giving the necessary momentum to get an album of this magnitude off the ground. While the first track "Marching to the Heartbeats" does the task of introducing the album, it gives more of a foundational feeling for the shape of things to come. However, until track two a new listener may not really know what they're knee deep in, for the remaining hour.
Melancholic and beautiful, this album paints a lonely and abandoned feeling which is unlike any other I've felt from an album. It sinks in with every swell of guitar distortion, cymbal crash, or agonized wail of vocals. With this album, Cult of Luna proves to me that they're on top of their game, and only getting better with age.
Well don't that just beat all Apr 16, 2009
Guys, this is IT. The classic Cult of Luna have always been threatening to make. I hesitate to use the word "mature", since these guys were pretty damn mature to begin with, but anyone can point to this as the logical conclusion to the end-time rumblings of The Beyond and Salvation. COL have walked into the Swedish forests and emerged with something damn near cosmic and unidentifiable. Sure, I could do without the Neurosis-like plod-a-thon "And With Her Came the Birds", but that bump in the road can be easily overlooked when it's surrounded by such thunderous material as "Finland" and "Back to Chapel Town". Seven tracks, and I don't think I can take seven more. Dark, mystic and expansive, this is what all art metal should aspire to be.
 Don't buy from MovieMars!!! Dec 08, 2008
I specifically asked MovieMars BEFORE I bought this CD from them, if it was the digipak that contains 2 the bonus songs. They replied and confirmed that it was indeed the digipak. Once I received the CD, it dissappointing to find that I had been lied to by MovieMars, it was not the digipak and did NOT contain the 2 bonus songs. So I had been swindled by them paying top dollar for the digipak and getting lied to. The regular CD is good however, I am just upset that crooks have taken advantage of me, lied to me, in affect stealling extra money from me for the digipak, which I really wanted. I contacted their customer service and was given an automated run around via email.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
4th on my best of 2006 list Mar 15, 2007
Introspection, and isolation are words that come to mind when I am listening to Cult of Luna's "Somewhere Along the Highway". This band has been labeled as sludge doom and "post-metal", a genre-du-jour that of late has been used to describe bands such as Neurosis, Isis, The Red Sparrows and Pelican. In fact, some places even state that the genre was created by Neurosis, with the others following their lead. Cult of Luna has often and unfairly been dubbed imitators. This album surely illustrates that this band are an entity to be noticed. They have created a dichotomy of glacial delicacy and brutal loneliness and loss.
I wonder often about the term "post-metal", since so many of the tracks on this album certainly sound like "metal" to me. There is no doubt that the churning guitars and pounding drums on tracks "Finland" and "Back to Chapel Town" are heavy enough to qualify as decidedly metal. Vocalist Klas Rydberg illustrates that he can roar with the best, as well as sing in a beautiful clean and soothing way.
The fourth track is a real treat, and displays Rydberg's beautiful low and mellow clean vocal style. "And With her Came the Birds" is an icy doom ballad that creeps along at a funereal pace. Slow and sparse reverb-laden guitar chords are played to support banjo (yes, banjo) arpeggios while Rydberg chants the seriously unsettling lyrics:
"Dead man with pitchfork arms tells me all that he knows.
Leave me here for the crows.
In the fall she came back, and with her the birds."
Minimal and disturbing, this song has to be the most unique single "song" I have heard all year. This song alone would have reserved a spot on my list. It is followed appropriately with the wonderfully gloomy "Thirtyfour", a song that decidedly proclaims this band's doom metal roots.
A convenient term when describing an album of this sort is "atmospheric". Overused, even by me, this term certainly applies to the songwriting found here. Much of the last two songs "Dim" and "Dark City, Dead Man" is instrumental. Cult of Luna takes the high road, so to speak, by not including a trendy "noise" or "drone" track. All of the songs on this album, albeit hypnotic in places, are melodic and carefully composed. Abandoning political and social themes, this album contains subject matter that is much more personal and introspective. The lyrics throughout tell a story of the archetypical search for the ideal other, longing, lost love, and loss of identity. The heartbreaking denouement "Dark City, Dead Man" could almost be used as a movie soundtrack in parts. It is epic, sprawling and moody with an ending that will leave you on the floor.
I cannot finish this review without mentioning the production. This album was recorded and mixed in a barn in the middle of nowhere. I am amazed at how perfect the natural reverb of this place complimented the music as written. The result is stunning.
a masterpiece Nov 16, 2006
I've had this album for a while now and it is still as strong as it was on day one. Salvation was a good album but this one takes this band to a whole new level. This is the best album in recent memory and continues to get better with each listen. If you're a fan of Isis, Pelican, and Neurosis you will love this album. This album puts Cult of Luna beyond those three. I would be amazed if they are able to improve on this one.
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