Lumen Ad Mortem- ''Absolute violence contrasted by ethereal sombre''
- Sparky
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Aaron Tuck (Guitars, Keyboards, orchestration)’’ It all started back around 2018 with conversations between Gregor and me. Many hours of discussions happened before any music was written. We had both been inactive musically for at least 5 years and decided to make black metal with a set aesthetic and sound in mind. The initial concept was simple - black metal influenced by the second wave artists from Norway and Sweden especially, while also looking to the Australian scene and our other influences. The idea was always to have dark and menacing black metal, hence the name Lumen Ad Mortem.
‘’Since that discussion and the first album, we have just expanded on the concept. Our new album has more complex song structures, dense orchestral passages, and lyrical themes. We feel that it is darker and even more black metal than our first album.
‘’We have been very careful about the image of the band, so we sought out specific artists, photographers, graphic designers, and our record label Hypnotic Dirge Records with that in mind. We only work with people who understand our goals and are aligned with or at a minimum able to interpret the vision.
From 2019 Lumen Ad Mortem have created an intense listening experience that challenges and provokes the listener. It is a creation that demands attention as a complete construction forever evolving through the orchestrations and the unbridled fury of black metal. The new album is the thematic A Grave Ascent
‘’It’s a line from the lyrics of the title track. The whole section is as follows: Deserts - Stony arid and endless… Creek beds - Weave as the serpent… Coastlines - Surge and splintering ships… Mountains -Challenge a grave ascent. So, the line conveys the difficulty of a journey by a protagonist through harsh terrain to get to their destination.
Its themes of Loss and Vengeance?
''Yes, the whole album follows a central character as they are outcast, left to suffer and die and then return for vengeance and finally meet their demise. All set within a vast and unforgiving landscape. As laid out in the album - vengeance is sometimes the only path someone has to travel down, and it will consume them and ultimately lead to their downfall. It is an extremely powerful theme and very fitting to the music.
The inspiration for the sonic soundscapes that are epic yet also incredibly fast. The key to balancing atmosphere and intensity?
''Our influences range from second wave up to modern black metal, but also the work of composers Gustav Holst, Hans Zimmer, and Howard Shore. If we can get anywhere near their level, we have done what we set out to do. It is difficult to explain the process because some tracks come easily and some take time and many revisions to get right, but yes, the aim was to create epic cinematic movements while retaining the signature black metal blast beats and trem riffing. Absolute violence contrasted by ethereal sombre themes.
Your most uninhibited album?
We definitely tapped into some deeper emotions and explored more musical and lyrical concepts with this album compared to our first. We feel we are just getting started though and hope to keep pushing things further in the future.
Does And ‘’What is Yet to Lose’’ reflect this?
With “What is yet to Lose” the aim was to make a long epic track which would stand on its own as a microcosm of the whole album. Starting with an orchestral intro and taking a journey with a repeating riff through acoustic and piano sections back into full blasting chaos that builds and builds until the end. Gregor matched this with some of the most epic lyrics of the whole album.
It carries the signatures of black metal, but it is so much more.
''I appreciate that you recognise this. We have many influences from outside metal that have contributed to our sound. Classical and film composers, electronic, acoustic guitar and even some post metal, jazz, and rock. I personally have been listening to a lot of Boards of Canada, Max Cooper, Hania Rani, Nils Frahm, Amon Tobin, Aphex Twin and also metal and metal adjacent experimental bands like Secret Chiefs, Igorrr, Holy Fuck, Blood Incantation, Ulver, Oranssi Pazuzu and Dodheimsgard have been huge influences over the past few years.
It’s an evolution that reflects growth as musicians.
''Yes, I think so. We have been listening to weirder and more discordant/dissonant music and that continues to inspire us. We have also delved more into synths and sound manipulation since our first album and I am experimenting with modular synthesis, sampling, and running everything through a healthy amount of distortion and reverb. It has reached the point where we may need more than one keyboard on stage in the future.
The importance of presenting a true expression of oneself through your music or art?
''Absolutely. Be genuine or don’t bother. As far as we know you live once. Be authentic to yourself. Write what you want to listen to, and you will attract similar minds. Write braindead slop and you will attract an audience who likes that sort of thing. We would rather play music that moves us to 200 people who get it, than safe predictable crap to 20,000.
Being products of your environment and SA being the capital of extreme music? How do you think this happened? The uprising of exceptional talent in one area?
''Adelaide has always had a strong metal scene since I entered it in the late 90’s. Bands like Martire, Darklord, Stargazer, Dream Sovereign, In: Extremis were all active and we had bands like Damaged, Gospel of The Horns, Bestial Warlust, Psychrist, Encabulos, Portal, Naxzul, Astriaal and Lord Kaos visiting from interstate.
''The scene has become very death metal and deathcore focused in recent years, so our style of black metal means we are a bit of an outlier in our scene. I think Adelaide was a bit starved of black metal for a while, with only 2 or 3 black metal bands and 50 tech death/deathcore/hardcore bands so we have been supported very well here, and our audience continues to appreciate what we are creating.
In terms of talent, the plague of AI that threatens every musician/artist?
''Art reflects life and is harvested through life experiences, both positive and negative. AI has none of this, so what AI presents is an approximation of human emotion and experience. The risk is people will become confused and start to take the AI’s output as human.
''I guess the antidote to this is going to live shows. If there’s no human on stage or you think they are miming to AI music, then you can choose to leave. In a lot of ways, live music is currently a hybrid of this. I think AI has the potential for a stronger hold on other genres like synthwave and EDM and these artists will be able to fake a genuine live show a lot easier than a live band could.
''It will be very interesting to see how this all goes. Streaming platforms are going all in on AI and have been harvesting art to feed their models, so please support bands in other ways.
Plans to support the Album and tour.
''Yes. I am currently working on the final guitar notation and have just begun keyboard notation and patch building for the live members of the band who didn’t play on the album. This will take some months, but we intend to play live in November this year and have a few possible interstate gigs planned or in negotiation for 2027. We would welcome the opportunity to play overseas but this would take some serious organising as we have 6 live members, but we are very interested in doing this as soon as we can.
Top 6 favourite albums of all time?
I’ll keep it to metal as there are just too many albums to choose from…
Emperor – Anthems to The Welkin at Dusk
Igorrr - Spirituality and Distortion
Dodheimsgard – 666 International
Night Conquers Day – Rebellion is the Art of Survival
Death - Symbolic
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