Album Review: Cult Of Luna - Somewhere Along The highway

Cult Of Luna seem to be running in third place behind Isis and Neurosis as the leaders for the genre of slowed down hardcore with keyboards and samples added. Since none of the bands are looking to compete with each other, Cult Of Luna is probably pretty content to be in the position where they are.

Now on their fourth album, “Somewhere Along The Highway” we see Cult Of Luna doing what almost all bands of their kind seem to do in order to progress, which is to lighten up their sound. Don’t misinterpret “lightening up” as “selling out”, as Cult Of Luna are still different enough, and their songs are still long enough to keep them from the ears of radio play.

As always, if you’ve heard Cult Of Luna, they still have a signature sound that permeates everything they do. Especially the interplay between the guitars, bass, drums and vocals during their heavier moments.

I can accept the fact that bands like this feel they need to “lighten up” in order to progress. It’s almost a fact of life or a right of passage for it to happen. Some people still consider Cult Of Luna to continue to their heavy moments in a more emotional way. When I look back to their previous album “Salvation”, I can certainly agree with the “heavy in an emotional way” sense, but “Somewhere Along The Highway” does some things to diffuse the wonderful things they’ve done, and unfortunately in a negative way as well.

The song “Thirtyfour” actually has some moments that have been lifted from Isis. Not inspired by, or sounding similar too, it actually sounds as if they were attempting to make something that sounds like Isis. In a genre based so much on creativity, this is quite a downfall. The ending to the song “Dim” with it’s techno style beats at the end seems out of place. Cult Of Luna has always used their electronics in such a creative sense, one would never think of techno. The songs “Marching To The Heartbeats” and “And With Her Came The Birds” stick out like sore thumbs, as they’re slow, atmospheric songs with barely any percussion and clean singing. That it itself isn’t a bad thing, but the rest of the songs on the album do nothing to incorporate the usage of similar moments, and those same songs don’t do anything to reference any other part of the album. Had either of those two things been done, those songs would fit in much better.

On their previous efforts Cult Of Luna also present us with spectacular albums from front to back, where everything was interconnected and the order of the songs made sense, and things would segueway into each other. Even the most minor attempts to connect one song to another is in vain, as “Somewhere Along The Highway” isn't as much of a complete album as it is a collection of songs.

The previous album “Salvation” introduced the lighter moments that gave us a premonition of “Somewhere Along The Highway” having more lighter moments, unfortunately the songwriting caliber isn’t up to stuff with the other three previous Cult Of Luna albums. That being said, the songs themselves are still incredibly good, especially when taken out of context from one another.

7/10

Cult Of Luna
Cult Of Luna At Earache Records