DÜSTERLUST - Düsterlust
Even though DüsterLust’s self-titled album just came out now, it doesn’t contain new material. The songs were already released in 2014 under the name Dark Desire, but as a company claimed the copyright of the name, the band decided to call themselves DüsterLust and release the album, enhanced with three bonus tracks, on a label.
The band has always had a gloomy name, no matter if you take the original inception or its German translation. So I guessed that they were a gothic metal act. But that is only partly true. The decision to hire Regina Beatrix Rumpel as their vocalist and sign on the FemMeropa label shows of course that they want to belong to the currently very popular female fronted metal movement. Classically tinted symphonic metal plays also a major role, and still DüsterLust manage to stand out from the masses. One of the reasons why is that their vocalist is a classically trained soprano who knows who to use her voice skilfully. The running time of nearly seventy minutes are maybe a lot to stomach with that voice, but no one is forced to listen to the album in one go. She is joined by two of the male band members with growls and screams. One could accuse the band of deploying the old beauty and the beast cliché but it has to be mentioned in the spirit of fairness that they are never overdoing this.
It’s good to hear that the band is not limiting its repertoire to symphonic metal but is also open to other genres. Whereas the quite commercial opener Spaceflight still offers traditional symphonic metal, the following Kaleidoscope surprises with staccato riffing and complex structures that give the music a more progressive touch. Social War shows the band from its brutal side and comes with death metal rhythms. Variety is important for DüsterLust, which can furthermore be experienced on the dramatic and emotional Rainfall and Next Level Racism which starts solemnly but goes berserk towards the end.
The vocals are a matter of taste, but no one can say that they don’t sound extraordinary. DüsterLust’s manifold metal sets them apart from the mainstream. The album comes with many suspenseful and rousing moments, but ultimately suffers from its exaggerated length. DüsterLust may not yet have what it takes to convince over more than one hour, but the band definitely has the right amount of talent and potential to make them an act to look out for in the future.