Lilitu - The Delores Lesion

Metalheads are some of the most loyal music fans there are.  They will stand by their favorite musical style and they will always be alert to kick the crap out of anyone who dares to belittle it.  However, in the past few years there is one metal style that I've seen more and more metalheads turn their backs on.  Maybe because the style has been done so much that they have just become numb to it and just can't take anymore.  Well, I for one am a little different.  I can handle a style that's been done countless times before...as long as it's done right.  And of course, it's an added positive if that band tries to add some freshness to it instead of just rehashing the same material that so many other bands have repeated.

Well, Lilitu plays that so often criticized style of melodic death metal.  However, before you rip the disc out of the CD player and chunk it into your neighbor's backyard, my advice is that you give this band a chance.  Something about Lilitu attracts me to them.  Yes, I love melodic death metal, but they seem to do it in a way that makes it worth going back on your promise you made to kill yourself if you heard another Swedish-influenced melodic death metal band.  While that "dreaded" style is the backbone of most everything that Lilitu does, they add black metal, gothic, and electronica elements at all the right moments to really enhance their sound.  I even feel some hints of metalcore in there at times, but it's nothing really to worry too much about.  (Speaking of styles that have been run into the ground...)

The second track "Even the Vultures Moved On" is a classic example of the band's mixing of different elements to their benefit.  The song opens with some insane blasting, blistering guitars, and gothic keys before throwing itself into a brutal melodic death metal crunch mixed with electronic noises and raspy death/black vocals.  The chorus then incorporates some terrific clean male vocals (ala some of the kinds that today's emo/metalcore bands will utilize) that will have you singing those two lines all day.  The song also incorporates a cool guitar solo over some brutal riffing.

The third track, "The Delores Lesion", typifies the bands sound with heavy guitars, melodic leads, well placed keys, and even a chorus that combines emotional raspy death/black vocals with female vocals.  This song along with all of the other songs on this disc just pour forth with passion and feeling.  That character trait alone helps them stand out from a lot of the "feeling-less" melodic death metal bands out there.

As for the rest of the package, the production sounds very good and the layout is well done by Travis Smith.  My biggest complaint is the use of a few nude female pictures (which is why I've altered the clearness of the CD cover above).  There was really no point in my book why you gotta go that route.  When I take this CD to work, I take it without the case cause the last thing I want to happen is to have this CD sitting on my desk when my boss walks in and sees the naked woman on the front.  Geesh!  Same goes for at the house when I'm listening to this CD and the kids are around.  The rest of the layout is very well done, but a few tasteless photos can ruin the whole bunch.  As for lyrics, the seem to be talking about love and love gone wrong and regrets.  The lyrics of the song "Fragments of My Reflection" are very good..., "If I could be someone/I'd play the fool/with broken glass & shattered dreams/To gather up my memories of you/Failure sets in these wounds/....and I'm torn apart inside this time/What's real draws to a close/A reflection of all I've done wrong/I'm not the man I used to be/I need grief & misery to set me free/Half of me is dead and gone/Of all I've ever tried to be/Reveals what I don't want to see/Fragments are all I have to document this life/(Picking up the pieces)/Look away not to face the guilt & the shame/...that weighs me down/I'm haunted by what resides inside/Or what hides behind my soul/Striving to find the core/The face appears in the mirror/The flaws & all the signs of age/Fragmented scenes from a memory/Struggling to find my own identity/Look away not to face the guilt & the shame/...that weighs me down"  Mostly dark stuff with not much positive at all, but well-written.  My only complaint would be the use of the wonderful two intelligent words "mother f**ker" in the opening song.  They're not printed in the booklet, but are easily heard and they don't go along with the rest of the lyrics of the songs...stupid really.

All in all, this is a very solid album that I have really enjoyed.  Lilitu is a talented band that is surprisingly unheard of.  Fans of bands like Dark Tranquility, In Flames, Soul Embraced, and Immortal Souls should find plenty to like here.

Rating: 84/100

Review By: Matt Morrow

Label: The End Records

Total Songs: 8

Total Time: 36:47

Tracklisting: 1. Only the End of the World Again, 2. Even the Vultures Have Moved On (A Tragic Love Story), 3. The Delores Lesion, 4. Ether, 5. Follow Through, 6. Desolation Breeds, 7. Dark-Haired Girl, 8. Fragments of My Reflection.

Best Songs: Tracks 2, 5, and 8.

Band Lineup: Corey Long - Drums, Derek Bonner - Vocals/Guitars, Jason Piona - Guitars, Shane Bell: Live Bassist.

Band Website: http://www.lilitu.ws