Ludicra Break Up

I am sad to say that the Oakland based black metal band Ludicra has broken up. Ludicra have been a signature act within the Bay Area metal scene for the past decade. Over the past few years they have finally began to gain wider recognition for their high caliber albums and performances. Ludicra played a style of melodic black metal inspired by acts such as Darkthrone, Satyricon and Dissection. However, they were never afraid to let their other influences shine through. Aspects of doom, heavy metal and hardcore were all tastefully integrated into their sound. The members continually progressed as musicians, improving leaps and bounds with regards to the technicality of their performances. Most notably, Laurie Sue Shanaman has one of the most intense and dynamic voices within black metal. Her voice ranged from the spine shivering banshee howls to deep, guttural growls. 

Ludicra were also a rare instance of gender equality in metal. Women in metal are rare enough to begin with. When women are in bands, too often they only get spots as clean vocalists. While I have no problem with a good female singer in a metal band (there have obviously been some praise worthy results) Ludirca proved that women could do extreme metal and that men and women could come together to create kick ass metal. When you listened to a Ludicra album or concert, you’d didn’t think about the band members’ gender, you thought about their power and force of their music. 

The band members were also class acts. When I was 19 I wanted to go to one of their shows, but it was at a bar. On a longshot, I emailed guitarist Christy Cather, who like me, also lived in Santa Cruz. To my surprise, she was more than happy to give me a ride to San Francisco, let me pose as a roadie and get into the bar, no questions asked. All the band members were always humble and conversational, willing to talk about their music, the metal world in general or whatever else.

I saw Ludicra perform four times and on each occasion they put on an intense and powerful performance. Many friends of mine who had never been to a black metal concert said it was much better than they imagined. Their energy and passion really captivated crowds—whether or not they were fans of extreme metal or not. 

For those who haven’t heard Ludicra before I highly recommend their albums “Hallow Psalms” and “Fex Urbis Lex Orbis” for intense and visceral black metal performances. Their swansong “The Tennant” is also very good and shows the band at a more mature stage. Though this is the end of Ludicra, I hope to see the members continue performing. Drummer Aesop Dekker is already making excellent contributions to Agalloch. Here’s hoping that the other members find new bands or projects. Otherwise, we are left with memories of great albums and some great cuts of black metal.

Ludicra- The Tenant (2010)

Ludicra have never been a band to repeat the same album twice. Each release involves new dimensions, song structures and production techniques.  “The Tenant” continues this trend, differing quite significantly from its predecessor, “Fex Urbis Lex Orbis”. While “Fex…” was a spontaneous, emotional roller-coaster, “The Tenant” takes a much more reflective attitude. If “Fex…” is an explosive and exhausting burst of fury, then “The Tenant” is the solemn reflection upon the event the following day. Appropriately, “The Tenant” is generally slower (mostly staying in mid tempo), less biting and more composed.  The songwriting is very focused, ordered and directed. The album seamlessly interweaves differing elements: heavy metal with black metal, clean vocals with growled vocals, acoustic passages with electric passages.

In addition to the shift in songwriting, “The Tenant” includes several other key changes. First, there is a major increase in Christy Cather’s clean vocals. Cather’s voice is flat, monotone and somewhat disconnected, which fits well with the controlled, reflective attitude of the album. Second, “The Tenant” has much more of a heavy metal influence than previous albums. There are numerous crunchy, head banging riffs throughout the album, as well as other heavy metal signatures, such as the dueling guitar solo at the end of “Clean White Void”. Third, the musicianship is much improved over previous albums. Cather’s lead guitar has especially progressed and this album contains the best solos of her career. 

On the downside, the somber, reflective attitude of the album does not draw out the best from lead vocalist Laurie Sue Shanaman. Shanaman is one of the best vocalists in contemporary black metal scene, deploying a wide spectrum of sounds ranging from banshee like howls to snarling grunts. Shanaman was in top form on the wild and unrestrained "Fex...". Unfortunately, Shanaman is much more reserved on “The Tenant”. While a more reserved vocal style does fit the overall attitude of the album, those who know Shanaman’s full capacities will be left wanting more. 

Nonetheless, “The Tenant” is a highly consistent album with all seven tracks offering something different. My personal favorites are the first two songs. “Stagnant Pond” captures the melancholy mood of the album through slowly swaying melodic riffs that patiently build toward a blistering solo and choirs of soft, clean vocals. “A Larger Silence” involves Shanaman’s most intense vocal performance and layers of anxious, paper thin tremolo. 

On the whole, “The Tenant” is a solid, well rounded and mature release. While it lacks the fire that drove albums like “Fex…” and “Hallow Psalms”, it does contain excellent composition, songwriting and musicianship. This is certainly not the place to start with Ludicra (go for “Fex…"), but is highly recommended for fans of the band. 

Overall: 8/10

Ludicra- Fex Urbis Lex Orbis (2006)

Listening to Ludicra’s “Fex Urbis Lex Orbis” is like reading a compelling novella—you quickly get caught up in the story and then bang! It’s over before you knew what hit you. The album barely breaks the 40 minute mark, but there’s absolutely no filler. Those forty minutes are an amazing down, up and back down experience that expresses a sharp, succinct series of dramatic emotions.

The production is fairly stripped down. While “Fex Urbis…” is by no means qualifies as “raw” black metal, it is certainly black metal with no frills. All the instruments are clear and audible, but there isn’t a lot of gloss or saturation in the production, which means there’s a direct, visceral presence to the music. This helps highlight the killer vocals of Laurie Sue Shanaman.  Shanaman does everything from high pitched screams to bestial growls, all of which are packed with real energy and force. Guitarist, Christy Cather adds some monotone clean vocals, which are a good change of pace and fit the slow, somber passages well.

This is Ludicra’s third album (plus an EP), and it’s obvious the band is comfortable playing together. The performance is tight and everyone does their part. While there isn’t any mind-boggling musicianship on the album, the songwriting is excellent. The songs have very little repetition, but are nonetheless coherent. Each song uses two or three basic progressions which are modified in a variety of ways through the course of the song, giving the songs fluidity and development without redundancy.

The album is brilliantly crafted into three stages, mimicking the experience of becoming consumed by emotion, bursting forth in rage and fading into an exhausted tranquility. “Dead City” starts the album with a moody doom riff, before slowly building towards quicker, more aggressive passages. Like waves of emotion, the song swings back and forth, gaining momentum, with the music becoming more and more hostile and energetic.  The end of “Dead City” leads directly into the fast and biting “In Fever,” which is full of vicious and epic black metal riffs. The entire middle passage of the album continues on an aggressive tear, showing off sharp and catchy black metal riffs and Laurie Sue Shanaman’s intense screams and roars. Softer passages show up now and then, but they feel more like the band revving up for the next outburst, as opposed to an actual calming of the music.

The album hits its epoch with the chaotic opening three minutes of “Only a Moment”.  A whirlwind of tremolo riffs swirl around layers of vicious screams and yells, all set to an extremely groovy rhythm—the type of music you can’t listen to while staying still. With nowhere to go but down, the remainder of the album shifts into a series of slow, moody passages of blackened doom accompanied by flat, eerie, singing and tired rasps. By the time the aptly named “Collapse” comes to an end, darkness and fury has transformed into a hollow indifference. The ending stretch of the album has an oddly calming effect.

In general, I highly recommend Ludicra. The band has cultivated an original blend of black metal with touches of doom and punk aesthetic. Their entire discography (with the exception of “Another Great Love Song”, which is a dud) is solid. However, “Fex Urbis Lex Orbis” exhibits everything that makes this band so great in a fluid, compact, 40 minute experience.

Overall: 9/10