Lunatic Gods are something of an enigma: The outfit has been existing almost since the dawn of man, released four official recordings, each being released on a different label, last of which will be the above mentioned one i.e., "The Wilderness", third full length album for those Slovakians, seeing the light of day via a small Czech label called Shindy Productions. That actual recording, fell into my hands a year ago, being then only a promo, bearing only a simple title: "Promo 2001" (even though the musical material had actually been recorded in the year 2000)...Besides being nameless, this unique recording was also lableless, after the departure from Epidemie Records, and before that, from Metal Age Records. That particular promo CD-R so impressed me, that I felt an immense need of writing about it and exposing that effort through my lame words...Well, there is no better time to do just that, now that I'm holding the official "The Wilderness" album, finally released after a void of two years, a void during which, Lunatic Gods did not have any label to cooperate with, which is a damn shame, for such an exquisite band being neglected and overlooked by the majority of underground labels...Courtesy of Hirax, the founder and main guitar player of the band, have I got this release, and indeed, great a pleasure it is. Hirax, being not only a member, but also the main writer of the musical and lyrical content of this particular release, and a co-producer; A non-conformist soul, and above that, not a teenager any more...Lunatic Gods consists of musicians that are not afraid of experimenting and trying out new things. If one can label any band, using the pompous term 'Avant-garde', since the departure of Celtic Frost and their dying years' experimental albums - Lunatic Gods would definitely be one of the few nominees in claiming that title. Avant-garde, originally a French expression, means, in cultural and artistic context, a pioneer, someone who dares and tries something no one has tried before, someone who is causing a small revolution through his creation, a form of art which is not immediate, sometimes a hard-to-swallow one...Not many a metal band, are entitled to reclaim that crown of inventiveness, as so many today just keep working with the same material, the same been-there, done-that type of music... For Lunatic Gods, being just that - avant-garde, is a way of life. When has anyone, lately, heard of an extreme metal band incorporating instruments such as Indian sitar, Australian didgeridoo, drumbla, and a dual vocal section, consisting of two vocalists on a full-time job basis? This in mind, they exploit these elements organically, naturally, making their metal as unique as possible...Above that, Lunatic Gods are considered what can be called 'a politically-correct band', writing strong social and anti-war/anti-fascist lyrics, and working with very impressive and powerful holocaust images and collages, as a part of their booklet art material, by which, the listener can get a good impression about the lyrical contents with out the need of actually reading the lyrics. Lunatic Gods deals with its music first and foremost as a work of art, more than anything else; An artistic effort first, the musical effort comes only as secondary. In "The Wilderness", the band has returned to its more aggressive roots (in comparison to its previous album "Sitting By The Fire" which unfortunately was somewhat happy, although very progressive and unique nonetheless...). The information sheet describes the band's music as a combination between Death, Doom, Black and Art Metal; Info sheets tend to be incorrect usually, exaggerating and biased, but in this case, it is a rather good a description of Lunatic Gods' musical essence: It is indeed, and artistic approach to extreme metal, being aggressive and fast, and on the same breath also atmospheric and melancholic at times; The wise use of ambience-generating keyboards, of the two very different vocalist, of the exotic instruments, lends a very artistic aura to the overall sound, being non the least conventional or standard and never is the next second expected by any means..."The Wilderness" is a very eclectic recording, in which everything is possible, almost every boundary and rule are broken, and boredom is miles and miles away from looming...This is, with no doubt, one of the most interesting albums I had the pleasure listening to, in a very long time, and is strongly recommended to those who seek the complete artistic expression within the walls of extreme and underground metal, being powerful, beautiful, inventive, raw and melodic in the same time, and the most important thing - being an intelligent piece of metal.

© 2002 c. drishner