Review: Lustmord ‘The Others [Lustmord Deconstructed]’

Lustmord aka Brian Williams was born in North Wales and was a former member of Australian/noise group SPK. He has collaborated with the likes of Chris & Cosey, Current 93, Nurse With Wound and has worked on numerous soundtracks including The Crow and Underworld. My introduction to him was via the Melvins excellent Pigs Of The Roman Empire album.

As a tribute to Lustmord, Berlin based Pelagic Records have put together this massive 9xLP/5xCD box set which includes not only the original album Other, but also two remix albums and of course The Others [Lustmord Deconstructed] which features reworkings of tracks from the aforementioned albums by some of the underground music scene’s heavy hitters. Due to the album’s immense running time (over two hours), I will be highlighting what I think are the album’s standout moments, this is not to discredit the other tracks, however, one needs to be realistic and were I to adopt my usual reviewing style, I would probably still be writing this review come Christmas.

Opening track Eon, as covered by Enslaved, is not what you would expect. If you were anticipating blast beats, shrieked vocals, or even proggy Viking metal, then prepare to be taken aback when you are instead met with some mellow yet well-crafted atmospherics. MONO‘s interpretation of Er Eb Os engulfs the track with an epic ethereal blissful quality which one would expect from the Japanese post-rockers, meanwhile Ihsahn, who has form for experimentation with both Emperor and as a solo artist, furnishes Dark Awakening with a John Carpenter sci-fi synth influenced sound, reminding me of In Arcadia’s last couple of releases.

Prime is performed brilliantly by internationally acclaimed composer and virtuoso cellist Jo Quail, whose delicate and mournful playing perfectly fits alongside the otherwise bleak ambient electronica like an iron hand in a velvet glove. Elsewhere Bohren & Der Club Of Gore‘s awesomely cool noir jazz nicely complements Plateau, in a way that according to the All About The Rock website ‘signifies a long, perilous journey ahead’. It’s utterly spellbinding and it’s understandable why this was released as one of the early previews for the album.

set aside some serious listening time and immerse yourself in its splendour…

German post-metal/sludge-metal act The Ocean tackle Primal (State Of Being) in their characteristically crushing way and guitarist/Pelagic Records head Robin Steps is quoted as saying that Lustmord‘s ‘timeless, primordial soundscapes have always resonated deeply with me’. Based on this evidence, it’s clearly proven to be the case. Element, as handled by French darkwave/industrial rock duo Crown, takes you down a Fragile era Nine Inch Nails route, which pleases me no end seeing as I’ve always considered that album to be the band’s finest moment.

I’ve been listening to Jaye Jayle rather a lot of late and so naturally gravitated towards his take on Er Eb Es, his moody nods to early Nick Cave sitting particularly well with me. Finally, if you ever wondered where the likes of Fear Factory got their sound then look no further than Industrial metal godfathers Godflesh. In Justin Broadrick and G.C. Green‘s hands, we get a particularly abrasive take on Ashen with a sound that is positively apocalyptic and feels a good point on which to conclude the review.

The Others [Lustmord Deconstructed] is not an album that can be casually ‘dipped into’ on a whim, in fact considering the amount of effort and ambition it’s taken to put together such a roster for this project, to do so would feel altogether disrespectful. Instead, set aside some serious listening time and immerse yourself in its splendour, trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

Label: Pelagic Records
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Scribed by: Reza Mills