Lunar – Tempora Mutantur
Release Date: 31st January 2024
Label: Saibot Reigns Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Metal, Progressive Death Metal.
FFO: Opeth, Caligula’s Horse, Haken, Tool, Porcupine Tree, Ayreon.
Review By: Eric Wilt
Lunar is a progressive metal band from Sacramento, CA. Led by longtime drummer Alex Bosson, Lunar is getting ready to release their fourth full length on 31 January. Entitled Tempora Mutantur, the new album is based around the four seasons, and the songs and artwork reflect this. Speaking of the artwork, there are four accompanying paintings that show the same scene painted during the four different seasons. This is a cool idea that goes hand in hand with tracks one through five which include A Summer to Forget, Fall Back into Old Habits, Seasonal Interlude, Weakening Winter Touch, and Spring in My Step.
While Lunar can keep up with the big boys of progressive metal, they’ve never really moved to the top rung. This may be because some of their music is not easily digested. Take the beginning of A Summer to Forget for instance. As a whole, the song is heavy and enjoyable, but the beginning of the track may be off-putting for some people. I know I was perplexed when I heard the beginning few minutes of the opening song. The track begins with clean guitar, a xylophone, and the keyboard played to sound like a brass instrument. When the singing comes in, it is overly theatrical, and the guitar plays a bouncy, jaunty type riff. At this point, I almost gave up on the album, so bizarre is this section, but being the dutiful reviewer I am, I kept with the album, and I’m glad I did. It isn’t very long into A Summer to Forget that the heavy guitars and growls come in and totally save it. After listening to the beginning section a few more times, I began to see the fun the band is having with this part of the song, and I see it in a totally different light.
Lunar is best on Tempora Mutantur when they are playing progressive death metal as they do on Fall Back into Old Habits, Spring in My Step, and Tempora Mutantur Part II-Broken Pendulum. Also enjoyable are the more traditional prog metal sections like that which is found in Weakening Winter Touch and Tempora Mutantur Part III-Watch the Weather Change. Tempora Mutantur is filled with riffs and varied musical styles. They cover everything from clean, beautiful sections to challenging technical sections to prog death metal. Repeated listens are necessary to not only appreciate all that the band is doing on the album, but to learn how to appreciate some of the more challenging passages as well.
If you enjoy progressive metal/death metal, I would recommend you give Tempora Mutantur a shot. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you give it a chance, it is actually a very enjoyable album that will stand the test of time.
(3.5 / 5)
