By It’s our Bandcamp Pick of the Week, featuring Lux Terminus’s vintage prog metal exploration CINDER!
Lux Terminus – CINDER
Genre: Progressive Metal, Djent, Progressive Rock
Favorite Tracks: “Jupiter II,” “Mosaic Mind,” “P.L.O.N.K”
Despite being a footnote in the history of cinema, 1986’s Transformers: The Movie arguably boasts one of the greatest film soundtracks ever composed. Amidst the needle drops featuring third-rate hair metal bands like NRG and Kick Axe—the latter credited under the pseudonym Spectre General—giving it their all, the film’s score is one dominated by electronics. Drum pads, Fairlights, Synclaviers, and other sequencers are all utilized to create a gamut of motifs ranging from cold and ominous (“Unicron Medley”) to bouncy and bombastic (“Escape”) to straight-up heart-wrenching (“Death of Optimus Prime”). While Vince DiCola hardly received the recognition he deserved for creating music truly fit for the Transformers brand, his legacy lives on in artists such as Lux Terminus, who utilize the same type of technology he pioneered and merge it with more modern elements.
To describe Lux Terminus as Vince DiCola acolytes would be a gross oversimplification of their sound. While DiCola’s textures and style are apparent throughout CINDER’s keyboard-heavy moments, this is a band with a bit more grit in their teeth. “Neon Rain” is a highly syncopated Djent-style track that most metal fans would headbang to despite the lack of screeching guitars, while “Mosaic Mind” wouldn’t feel too out-of-place on a Liquid Tension Experiment album with its thundering drum work and pummeling bass lines. Elsewhere, Lux Terminus also display their penchant for writing more cinematic fare, best evidenced by the opening Jupiter suite, which features backing vocals from Espera and feels like the sonic equivalent of a planet being born.
At the center of the album is perhaps the most adventurous offering from the band, “Catalyst.” As the only track to feature lyrics, it seems to vocalize the thematic intent of CINDER. It’s a song whose message isn’t overly clear on first listen, but at the heart of Vikram Shankar’s lyrics is a burning desire for mental clarity amidst the chaos of life, the latter element heavily emphasized by the striking use of minor chords and stylistic changes.
Though certainly not for a mass audience, CINDER is an album that seeks to entice fans of technical and emotive music who might be scared off by the distorted drones and half-baked philosophy found in progressive metal. For those seeking this kind of musical passion, check out the album at Bandcamp.
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