#Lithik 🇦🇺 – Weather the Storm

Band: Lithik
Title: Weather the Storm
Label: Independent
Release date: 05 November 2021
Country: Australia
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording

I listened to this album having no idea about the band, and I must admit that when I saw the cover, I thought that it would be really far from my comfort zone, but how wrong I was… well, it’s not the stuff I’m listening to lately, but I’ve felt really comfortable listening to this EP several times, I’ve enjoyed a lot, I even have the feeling of being in a familiar place with this one. Mainly because “Weather the Storm” reminds me of classic Metal and Doom as it was done a lot of years ago, in the early days…  

I’ve had a hard time trying to put a label on this music (damn!, I just feel the need to do that all the time!), so I finally gave up. There are various genres blended together, done with great style, and here lies its charm. It sounds as genuine melodic Metal sometimes, and after a while it’s more like Doom Metal ‘cause the tempo has slowed down, and there’s also classic Heavy Metal stuff… until you find some atmospheric passages… and some Gothic traces (as in the song “Weather the Storm”, with those female vocals in the background)… Melodies flow naturally and you feel surrounded by stories about storms, natural phenomena and how time flows and everything on Earth is a cycle… 

I really like the melodies, they are usually soft but it doesn’t mean their sound is weak, on the contrary: I find a strong connection between the guitar playing and the lyric content, they match together perfectly, as if the instrumental part was a natural extension of the sung words. The melodies are dark in general, as depicting a somber landscape, sky filled with grey clouds, and some grey high mountains in the distance… And the raspy vocals add a bit more of this same effect, that’s so well done!

“New Moon” is the opener track, a catchy melody builds the structure of the song leading you through four minutes with some hard rock vibes but played in a heavier way, drums also have some familiar kicks and the guitar solo near the end is more than a great introduction to this album. The man behind the string instruments and vocals is Ray McGill, he played bass for a short time for Bastardizer, which is not a bad reference at all! Ashley Large is the one beating the drums, he is involved in some other bands and he does a great work here as he is responsible for this organic and dynamic feel that’s present all along the album. So good at changing tempos as in the song  “Weather the Storm”, and I must say I love the great use of cymbals and the addition of female vocals in this track, makes it more fluid, it’s beautiful!

The closing theme, “No End for an End to Meet”,  runs for ten minutes alternating some calm and atmospheric passages with some mid-paced and even faster tempos, with devastating strong lyrics that in the beginning make me shiver, and as the song runs I can feel the drama intensifying but at the same time I feel some relief as I think I understand the deep meaning of it all… The melodies are catchy, the guitars and bass sound very powerful despite the tragic speech, and when reaching to the phrase “Every day has less to give than the day before” everything explodes and it’s almost cathartic… very well played here. 

A really enjoyable album, be sure you check it out! I give it 8/10 Sílvia 

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8/10 To Greatness and Glory!
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