UMUR
"Forever Alone, Immortal" is the debut full-length studio album by Polish black metal act Lux Occulta. The album was released through Pagan Records in September 1996. Lux Occulta was formed in 1994 and released the "The Forgotten Arts" demo in 1995. The original version of the album features 6 tracks, while the 2001 remastered version (released by Metal Mind Productions) features the Sisters of Mercy cover track "Burn".
Stylistically the material on "Forever Alone, Immortal" is a raw but keyboard heavy (atmospheric and at times symphonic) type of black metal. The vocals alternate between black metal snarling, death metal grunts, and some almost hysterical desparate sounding vocals. The sound production is pretty lo-fi and the whole release have an air of amateurism surrounding it. This sounds more like a demo than a full-length studio album released through a label.
The tracks are relatively long (two of them exceeding 10 minutes in length), but most tracks feature a lot of repetition of riffs and rhythms, so it´s not the most challenging or creative black metal release out there (although folky progressive rock sections with flute and cello do appear and provide some variation). The musicianship is a bit below par too, so upon conclusion this isn´t exactly a promising start for Lux Occulta and a 2 - 2.5 star (45%) rating is warranted.
