Lights Out, the second album from Norway’s Posthum, is a darkly realised work that revels in the sound of melancholic depression yet still beats with a harsh edge that presents itself in the vocal style of Jon Kristian Skare and the outpouring of anguish that follows in their wake.
First track Untame is starkly beautiful in its post-metal leanings; the guitars shimmer, the progressions conjure images of vast and snowy wildernesses and the dreamy atmosphere curls around Skare’s countering roars of despair. Driving drum work that’s both forceful and sweetly graceful pushes the morose Red into ever more tormented territory and the sweeping riffs lead the track into the suffered howls of Absence.
Coming from Norway, you’d expect Posthum to sound a certain way, but the beauty of Lights Out stems from Posthum having their own clear identity and distancing themselves from the ‘trve’ Norwegian scene. It’s deeply refreshing and Lights Out weaves an interesting dance between the extremities of raw black metal and the elegance found within the depressive spectrum of the genre.
