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LUX TENEBRIX
The Ground That Breaks Beneath Eternal Dread

Self-released (2025)
Rating: 8/10

It’s not often you hear a black metal band from the Dominican Republic, but this fearsome crew has just issued its debut full-length album from the darker depths of the region.

Before my initial spin I expected a rather straight forward, and maybe methodically Gothic black metal opus, but I was glad to be proven wrong. Although the clan most certainly dabbles in the art of scathing black metal, there are blackened death traces too, especially with the opening song and single ‘Drown’. Very much a gateway to the sound of Lux Tenebrix, ‘Drown’ starts with an almost thrashy chug; crisp and mid-paced it entices us further into the thorny web of intrigue. Vocalist Metalicide scowls throughout like a demented witch cursing its audience through spiteful spits.

I’ve always been a sucker for raw black metal that’s laced with a very wicked poison and Lux Tenebrix is that band I crave. The black metal purist will no doubt revel in the nefarious scrapings of ‘Eternal Curse’ and its gloomy openings where the drums tumble alongside the dismally melodic guitar work. Even as the pace quickens this is very much Lux Tenebrix in more reflective mode, evoking images of teeming grey rain and the icier snarls of the vocals.

‘No Turning Back’ is more dismal in nature, a slower pace orchestrated by the dim percussive plod. Things speed up at the final quarter, as again that more archetypal black metal seething comes to the fire, driven by the haunting scratch of the guitar.

Just when you think that you’ve got all this worked out, ‘Rotten Souls Among The Shadows Of Death’ hits with a much beefier drum sound and an equally burly riff. This is where the deathlier aspect of the bands armoury comes to the fore, yet still steady in its ascent to misty mountain tops. At the halfway stage any droplets of morning dew are disturbed by a sudden rush of drums and cold chords as if cloying sea frets were tampering with the tranquillity that settled upon the wistful peaks.

That’s the joy here though, the corpse-painted clan drifting seamlessly between tempos to a point of almost melancholic beauty with ‘Neverending Obscurity’ which comes awash with trickling chords blessed from the calm, glistening waters of some Scandinavian fjord rather than the Dominican Republic. Meanwhile, the six-minute instrumental ‘The Silver Cord’ is an expansive, majestic waterfall of chiming chords, wafting as sparkling vapours over pastoral mystical valleys.

Lux Tenebrix create atmospheres you can feel, touch and smell, a downpour of familiar yet all encompassing black metal waves which may have benefitted more from the addition of extra dense riffs and a more sinister tone throughout. Even so, this remains a top notch black trip that’s not for the weak of heart but for those whose blood pumps a shade of dark.

Neil Arnold

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