adg211288 It's been four years since the Italian black metal act Lorn released their last album Subconscious Metamorphosis (2013). Now back with a new two-piece line-up consisting of Radok (vocals, guitars, bass & synths) and Chimsicrin (drums), their third full-length album Arrayed Claws (2017) has been unleashed.

'Unleashed' being the operative word as for the most part what we have here is a brand of black metal that is played in a fast and furious manner. Like a wild beast Arrayed Claws seems poised to rip its listeners to shreds, an effect only only enhanced by the music's production which serves up a sound that while not totally crisp and clear isn't so lo-fi as to detract from how hard the band's riffs are hitting. But interlaced with these assaults of blackened guitar riffs and snarling vocal fury the album offers up the occasional reprieve in the form of a softer ambient side that manifests here and there, for instance near the end of the opening Disharmonic Feticism and perhaps most notably in the closing Aus Nebel Turm, where even the metal elements, used lightly for a change, take a turn towards the atmospheric.

Lorn have produced an album with two distinct faces in Arrayed Claws. Though neither reinvents the wheel there is something about this release that just immediately works and shows itself to be a high quality album by the band. The black metal is the most convincing stuff in this regard but the ambient passages serve the release in a positive way by offering some variation to break it up, though the one at the end of Disharmonic Feticism does seem to come out of nowhere I must admit. Aus Nebel Turm feels a lot more natural. That's not a criticism of the former as there's nothing wrong with suddenly wanting to exclaim 'wait, what the hell?' when discovering new music.

I can't say if this year is especially different but the black metal genre seems to be exploding with new releases right now, so it's been difficult in some respects to pick and choose which ones to look into. Being on the mighty I, Voidhanger Records label certainly worked in Lorn's favour in that regard and they didn't let the high standard I've come to expect from that label down. Arrayed Claws is certainly an early highlight for black metal in 2017. I, for one, will be listening to this a lot.