ALBUM REVIEW: Dimensions – Lantern

LANTERN are arguably one of the many hidden gems within Finland’s already large and impressive death metal scene. Since the release of their Virgin Taste of Damnation demo back in 2008, the band have garnered a small but respectable reputation for writing some incredibly imaginative, visceral death metal, with their first two albums, 2013’s Below and 2017’s Morphosis, cementing the bands legacy as one of the better death metal acts within the Finnish underground. Their latest album, Dimensions, sees the band develop their sound and style even further, making for an album that could very well catapult the band to prominence outside of their homeland.

Strange Nebula provides a really strong start to the record, with powerful, punchy rhythms, punctuated by slick, imaginative leads making for an excellent sound right out of the gate. The huge undercurrent of the song’s sound, built around thunderous drums and a substantial, booming bass, give this a massive sound, with coarse vocals adding a ferocious exclamation point to the music. Beings a much shorter, straight forward affair, carries forward the tight, eerie riffs and savage vocals, the drums, rhythm guitars and bass injecting a more energetic side to the song, grabbing the listeners attention fairly quickly with a vast and expansive sound. There’s also a more varied use of distortion, which adds an ethereal, haunting edge to what’s on offer here, giving this album a little bit more depth.

Portraits, although brief, effectively breaks the album up, with the sound shifting into a lighter, but nonetheless fierce, approach, with clean guitars peppered throughout and a more measured pace lending this particular track a far different sound. Cauldron of Souls, with catchier leads and a more groove-laden beat, jumps between memorable moments and suitably caustic, primitive ones quite well, with the guitars once again possessing plenty of lively, adventurous sections that help to elevate this song above the ones that preceded it, setting a new benchmark for the album.

Shrine of Revelation ups the ante in terms of the intensity, with much of this song proving to be a feral, frenzied offering, with more chaotic drums and guitars combining to create an impenetrable wall of noise that works extremely well, paving the way for the thicker, chunkier sound that creeps into the sound later on, which transforms this song from a cacophonous blur of vitriol to a bleak, doom-laden number.

Monolithic Abyssal Dimensions, the album’s monolithic climax, really sees the scope of the music expand, with the magnificent, bubbling bass blending with subtle, but effective, drums, building a great foundation for the rest of this lengthy song to develop around. The eerie lead licks are out in full force here, adding a disjointed, but immersive, quality to the music that helps to inject plenty of great flourishes to the sound. The preponderance towards harsher, more visceral death metal, with great, sludgy bass hooks and discordant guitars thrown into the mix for good measure, does a lot to make this song as interesting and engrossing as it is, making this is a fantastic and memorable way to close out the album.

Comparing this album with the two that came before it, it’s clear that LANTERN are slowly but surely shedding the much rawer, grimier production for a more polished sound, without sacrificing any of the intensity and darker aspects of the music. The eerie and disjointed leads provides an engrossing, and decidedly more emotive sound that, along with the tight, focused rhythms and bestial vocals, make for what is arguably the bands most impressive output to date. It will be incredibly interesting to see how LANTERN develop this sound with whatever they have coming next, because, with this album in particular, they have hit upon a winning formula.

Rating: 8/10

Dimensions is set for release on July 10th via Dark Descent Records.

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