Samael is a band well known in the Metal community and really needs no introduction. Well, that was the case until the Satanic Black Metal act decided to scrap everything and focus on spiritual and astral lyrical topics through Industrial. This entered a whole new fan base, alienated many existing fans, but didn't necessarily offer bad music. After sticking with the Industrial format for a while now, the band continues to compose music that feels like more matured versions of tracks off Reign of Light (an album I personally enjoyed for many years), their true debut into the Industrial style, and all other releases afterwards. But, does Lux Mundi have anything to truly offer fans of either style that hasn't really been heard before?
While Lux Mundi really doesn't offer anything new or unique, some of the songs on here are simply catchy as hell and can make the listener's blood start pounding with the Industrialized Metal intensity. "Luxferre" has a simpler hammering musical set up with some chugging guitars, but that heaviness leads to an intensity that will only fuel the listener's adrenaline and make him or her want to just start moshing right on the spot with anyone and everyone near by. This is by far one of the best tracks off the album, and welcomes the listener back to Samael's now familiar Industrial world of heavy guitars and drumming all laced with electronic overtones and distortions and rhaspy or deep vocals depending the musical situation. But, this is about where the album starts to lose some of it's steam, sadly, and rather quickly become repetitive and bland after a while in a manner that the somewhat sleek and stylish atmosphere can't even save.
Tracks like "Luxferre" really make Lux Mundi stand out and be an album you want to own and blast through your speakers, then throw down on the spot, but as far as your adrenaline gets whipped up by this track, the listener is left stumbling. "Let My People Be!" introduces a much slower approach to the music that essentially takes the catchy groove of "Luxferre" and it's somewhat chugging guitars, and slows it down dramatically. The harmonized vocals are rhaspier, but they sometimes don't really offer up any kind of harmonization with the music and come off a monotone pitch that is generically off-key with the rest of th esong. "Antigod" ias the same way, except there are times where the band utilizes the Industrial aspect of their sound to try to fill some of the emptier gaps, and the whole groove and chugging atpects have been ripped out top, leaving those said electronic background elements to the song to greatly carry it. And, sadly, this doesn't stop here, but some of these slower tracks are still engaging and offer a little variety to the music. "For a Thousand Years" is essentially the same song you heard since "Let My People Be!", but the track shakes things up by being much slower in comparison, focusing on the bass pushing the music along more then the actual guitar at times, and the vocals at times are performed in a much deeper, lower volumed menacing manner that sounds great for the song, and really comes off great given that the vocals performed through the entire release just don't offer much at all.
After a long chunk of what feels like varying filler with maybe one or two songs that were genuinely slated to be included as a normal track for the album ("For a Thousand Years" and "Antigod"), the album finally gets back to some of the faster material that shows off the band's talent nicely. "The Shadow of the Sword" has a more upbeat feel to it's faster playing, though still utilizes some heavy music. There's even some music that comes off like a Middle Eastern or even a more strict Chinese regional input that works nicely on the song near the final stretch, and the vocals show much more energy and range compared to the rest of the songs. But, then everything goes back to the slower pace for "In Deep". However, this track is very entertaining as well, and really has a more ritualistic or tribal sensation to the music at times, especially in the vocal performance, and a good deal of changes in the music to make it come off a little more epic in key spots thanks to more electronic inputs and quicker double bass kicks.
The rest of Lux Mundi is mostly hit or miss. Some of the songs are enjoyable, but nowhere near to the extent of "Luxferre", which really stands out at the only truly enjoyable track that will get the listener pumped from start to end. While not all of the album feels like it consists of filler, there's too many songs on here that essentially sound the same for that idea to be denied. Aside the few tracks mentioned earlier in the review that stand out for whatever degree, you also have "Mother Night" which feels a little more eventful and energetic, like the band really put more effort into this track then the others. "In Gold We Trust" is another stronger track that feels heavier and faster, but not by much as far as the speed is concerned, and given the lack of really awe-inspiring or testerone building tracks on the release, this is one of the better songs available.
While Lux Mundi is not one of the most atrocious CDs you'll find, it really feels like nine, maybe ten of these songs are just filler, and even that doesn't say much since "Lux Mundi" is really the only memorable track on the recording that is well worth checking out. The band has issued some good Industrial releases that had varying emotions since Reign of Light, but this is simply a slap in the face to the listener. The music is boring, almost always slowly paced with no real enthusiasm anywhere to make it work into an enjoyable song, often sounds like the previous song, and outside a few key songs that change things up, it's enough to put the listener right to sleep. Die hard Industrial fans will more then likely enjoy the album for some of the more atmospheric electronic elements included, but even after a few spins those fans will shy away quickly with how tacked on some of those additions feel, appearing only at certain times, leaving it a rather uninspired mess of varying to no atmospheres in each song. But, it's suggested you sample some of it's wares, as Lux Mundi still has a few songs that will catch the interest of all sorts of fans, and actually worth discovering, but as a whole, you'll want to shut it off before the end of the first time through.
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