Metal, and black metal in particular, has been forever linked to nature. There are endless album covers with grim, black and white photos of trees, and music videos featuring corpse painted bands doing their thing in the middle of the forest.

Lithik's 'Lithification of Time' takes that love of nature one step further. Rather than singing about how much we all love Satan, the lyrics are solely about nature and its wonders.

Ray McGill, the one man driving force behind Lithik, has a Geology degree, and his love of rocks and the Earth shines through everything from the lyrics, to the album artwork, to the music video.

The grooves on 'Lithification of Time' are slow and doomy, akin to Solstafir or Paradise Lost, and it's great to hear this style come out of Australia. One small criticism would be that I found the vocals too high in the mix at times, but that doesn't take away from what is otherwise a decent, moody release. The bass lines cut through a wash of guitar riffs and cymbals, creating a groove that pushes these doomy, black metal tinged tunes along nicely. There are rockier moments too though, particularly in 'New Moon' and 'Weather the Storm', so if 100% slow doomy stuff isn't your thing, you might dig the variety here.

This is an interesting first release and I look forward to what comes next from Lithik.

 

Reviewed by Ben @ Nightbreed