Luctus is a one man project playing old school black metal, but with a very modern and clear production. The six songs provided by Luctus have some nice sampling, occasional cool grooving riffs, and of course the fast bashing parts. Those fast parts actually sound a little dreamy to me at some times, mostly because of the clear guitar sound, even though the music is brutal as hell. Add some good vocals and I would say that indeed a worthy addition to the Lithuanian black metal scene has risen.

 

The other band is called Argharus, and they posses a lesser production sound than Luctus. But also here I must confess I find the guitars to sound a bit dreamy, which is a plus of course. But the drum sound isn’t really optimal, and I’m not too impressed by the vocals either. Therefore the music as a whole doesn’t really grab me, or my attention for that matter. The sound isn’t nearly as aggressive as Luctus’ and it lacks a lot of groove as well, so I can’t really say that I’m actually digging this band. Can’t say that it’s bad though, just less interesting after you just heard the band before. Perhaps in a live situation they will manage to convince more easily.

 

My opinion is that Ledo Takas Records might be right about this being the new future of Baltic black metal, although a noticeable difference in quality between both bands is definitely there, but this might also be due to the recordings themselves. Fans of the genre should surely check these two bands out.