Cult Of Luna (se)
For nearly 30 years now Swedish sonic titans Cult Of Luna have been at the forefront of the post-metal scene, releasing classic record after classic record and bringing their uniquely epic sound to the farthest corners of the globe. Often credited with having invented the post-metal genre with the help of other cult bands such as ISIS and Neurosis, Cult Of Luna emerged from the 1990’s Scandinavian hardcore scene and have now grown into a whole new ecosystem of gargantuan proportions!
Adorning their hardcore backbone with atmospheric passages and slowing down on tempo and bpm's (but never compromising on decibels) Cult Of Luna emerged as a one-of-a-kind sonic beast, fusing breakdowns with crescendos and infusing the result with sweeping synth passages. Their sprawling compositions provide incomparable atmospheric grip and scenic soundscapes of unparalleled beauty. The band championed this new style of highly cinematic compositions thanks to tense, gripping, and suspenseful albums that delve deep into the listener’s soul; searching, probing, unravelling. Masterful in their interpretation, these sweeping, immersive, and deeply moving records reach every corner of one’s core, leaving it unscathed yet profoundly changed forever.
Often composed around a central overarching theme, Cult Of Luna’s albums are at once uniquely enthralling as a stand-alone project, and part of a bigger, even more captivating whole, extending the band’s reach into your soul and strengthening its grip with each dissonant note. A sonic quest like no other, Cult Of Luna’s journey is studded with luminous metal gems; iconic albums “Somewhere Along The Highway” and “Eternal Kingdom” that defined post-metal and set a new standard for the genre.
Released in two adjoining parts over 2013, the “Vertikal” saga saw the band explore mankind’s ever-growing reliance on technology and “the machine” in a winding and monolithic oeuvre, which cemented the band’s legacy as one of today’s most poignant commentators and vicious critics, pennants of musical style that expands well beyond the sonic realm and into a whole aesthetic. With their sweeping “techno” synths and sublime synthesis of fury and bliss, Vertikal I + II expanded the band’s pool of massive atmospherics and propelled them to new dizzying heights. In parallel, the album served as a new score to Fritz Lang’s cult classic “Metropolis”, which explored themes of technologic and economic alienation, poignantly serving as a manifesto that today almost 100 years later sounds scaringly accurate.
Their 2016 collaborative effort with all-around music genius Julie Christmas resulted in one of the best records of the last decade, which perfectly captured not just a sound, but a whole “ethos”. Met with universal acclaim, Mariner captured a worldview and transposed it into musical form, scoring with the help of Christmas’ creative genius and vocal prowess, a dystopian voyage into the Universe’s deep core, where the light of the sun, and mankind’s common sense are but remnants of a distant past. Like a still frame from a future past, Mariner captured and scored a specific time and place, with Cult Of Luna once again providing a poignant commentary of our society’s addiction to technology. One that 10 years later sounds frightening familiar. Scoring a fictional space voyage into our own undoing, the band sounded the bell on how technological progress, when left unchecked, can distort and overturn means and ends, and how our seemingly positivist mindset can render even the truest of horrors, feeble.
Disconnection between machine and operator and the involuntary horrors of cognitive dissonance were also explored on the band’s following album, which is, we dare say, their magnum opus. “A Dawn To Fear” a sprawling masterpiece of 80 minutes of playing time still stands unrivalled in its sheer beauty. An undertaking of colossal proportions, this album, thrills and shocks, crushes and comforts under the weight of tracks so gloriously epic that one only really has to listen to them to fully comprehend their majestic quality. A high watermark of post-metal excellency; an album like no other from a band like no other, this is not just post-metal, but music at its finest.
Continuing down on the scenic cinematic route, the band’s latest album “The Long Road North” was their most visceral in ages, and perfectly scored a real journey up north in the forgotten Swedish tundra where frosted snow and a freezing sun are your sole companions, and whipping winds do not forget to slap you in the face every time you put your chin up. As a humble yet constant reminder of our immense fragility, Cult Of Luna scored an album so full of raw humanity to be at the same time sincerely uplifting and profoundly crushing.
With this customary introduction now well underway we can only get a bit personal and clarify, as if it wasn’t obvious already, that this is a profoundly solemn moment for us too. Cult of Luna have always been one of those bands we knew we wanted at our festival. Like Mogwai, Russian Circles, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and God Is An Astronaut, they have inspired us to create what you have chosen to support every year for twenty years without fail (thank you). They should not only be credited with popularising post-metal, but also for inspiring us to create dunk!festival and keep pushing boundaries 20 years on.