Pulling at the heart strings

 
By Manuel Gemperli

It finally happened. I truly enjoy a Panopticon record. That’s not to say I disliked them in the past. What Austin Lunn has been building under the Panopticon moniker has been nothing short of impressive. By adding elements of American as opposed to European folk music (among other things) to black metal, he was able to craft a truly unique style. Yet somehow, so far none of his albums have touched me deeply on an emotional level. You know that level when you just can’t stop listening to something. I always suspected that this was clearly a me-problem. Saying that his music doesn’t have an emotional heft would be ridiculous. On the contrary, he is one of those musicians who are able to arrange rather complex music that still hits you straight in the guts. His landmark album “Kentucky” is a great example of this. Its abrasiveness and simultaneous melancholic beauty act as a perfect soundtrack to the desperation of a working class that feels its future sleeping away while the past and present were and are already heart- and bonebreaking enough. So it’s difficult to say why “Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet” hits me differently. 

On the surface, it boasts many of the same trademarks as we’re used to from this project. This isn’t a reinvention. The songs are long. Very long. And yet it feels like he might be getting to the point a bit quicker. He still takes his time to let musical themes breathe and nestle themselves in your brain. But they don’t overstay their welcome. The opener is a wonderful example. The main theme, mainly presented by beautiful strings, carries the song throughout and keeps evolving. It makes the true black metal eruptions hit even harder. Austin knows his way around riffs. While it would be reductive to simply call this a black metal record, it is the core of it. What truly sets this album apart to me and what makes it so thoroughly enjoyable however are the brilliant string arrangements. Working with strings in this genre is hardly an innovation, but I can’t think of many examples this ingenious. They are a thing of beauty, making the compositions feel grand and dramatic. Darkness and light are both amplified. 

Here it is – the Panopticon record that I can’t get enough of. One of things that I love so much about music is that you can’t measure it. I can’t say that this is a better album than the ones that came before it, but something touched me more. Something clicked this time. This says more about the listener than its creator. 

Flip through our Panopticon section online right here