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PO 02/11 : Cult Of Luna & Julie Christmas - Mariner


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Really? I've always gotten seamsplits and fucked up records from them.

Maybe I'll take the plunge so I can get some other CDs and qualify for free shipping.

EDIT: now that I think about it, it's only ME that's ever gotten it. I had a super fucked up Sunbather come from there for my Christmas present 2 years ago, and had to send it back. But my brother has bought a ton of records from Amazon for me and they're all great.

I'm just tired and mistaking Amazon with Collectors.Choice on Discogs. Those guys suuuuuuuuuck for vinyl shipping.

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I have no patience and am a terrible human being, so I caved and listened. Played it through my home stereo system and the quality isn't bad at all -- maybe slightly compressed.

 

As far as the music, it's fucking great. However, I'm a fanboy and Cult of Luna can do no wrong. Without spoiling much, it's a logical step forward from Vertikal for the most part. I'll also say that Julie is certainly more prominent throughout the album than "A Greater Call" would indicate. There are a couple of tracks were Johannes has little to no vocal presence.

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I have no patience and am a terrible human being, so I caved and listened. Played it through my home stereo system and the quality isn't bad at all -- maybe slightly compressed.

As far as the music, it's fucking great. However, I'm a fanboy and Cult of Luna can do no wrong. Without spoiling much, it's a logical step forward from Vertikal for the most part. I'll also say that Julie is certainly more prominent throughout the album than "A Greater Call" would indicate. There are a couple of tracks were Johannes has little to no vocal presence.

Does it still sound like a cult of Luna at least? Or is it really deviated from the norm? That's disappointing that there are some songs that he's not that present in because there are only 5 damn songs.

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Does it still sound like a cult of Luna at least? Or is it really deviated from the norm? That's disappointing that there are some songs that he's not that present in because there are only 5 damn songs.

Oh yeah, musically it's undeniably Cult of Luna. While there are some synth-laden ambient parts that aren't unlike parts of Vertikal (and more specifically Vertikal II), the vast majority is full of the CoL riffs you love. There's also some clean guitar riffs on one track that wouldn't sound out of place on Salvation. 

 

If you're not a Julie Christmas fan, I could see this being a somewhat disappointing first listen. But it's also extremely layered that it'll take quite a few listens to really delve into what's going on. I guess that can be said for just about all of their releases though. I'm just trying to say that I could see some hardcore fans being disappointed with Julie's vocals and not giving this album a chance -- and that would be a damn shame.

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Oh yeah, musically it's undeniably Cult of Luna. While there are some synth-laden ambient parts that aren't unlike parts of Vertikal (and more specifically Vertikal II), the vast majority is full of the CoL riffs you love. There's also some clean guitar riffs on one track that wouldn't sound out of place on Salvation.

If you're not a Julie Christmas fan, I could see this being a somewhat disappointing first listen. But it's also extremely layered that it'll take quite a few listens to really delve into what's going on. I guess that can be said for just about all of their releases though. I'm just trying to say that I could see some hardcore fans being disappointed with Julie's vocals and not giving this album a chance -- and that would be a damn shame.

I like her vocals, but I love johanes vocals, they are so badass.

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And it does sound great but this should have been "Julie Christmas with Cult of Luna," at least I will have the eternal Kingdom to spin and their represses.

You aren't incorrect... dude really isn't there at all. This is truly Julie Christmas fronting Cult of Luna. Which... I'm kind of disappointed with, in a way.

A Greater Call is sick because it blends the two, and there were many points in Chevron (which I'm not wild about in general) where I was DYING to hear Johannes screaming voice alongside Julie's vocals. That would have been SO fucking sick. But its just her.

The Wreck of S.S. Needle is fucking intense though, wow. Much better song.

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You aren't incorrect... dude really isn't there at all. This is truly Julie Christmas fronting Cult of Luna. Which... I'm kind of disappointed with, in a way.

A Greater Call is sick because it blends the two, and there were many points in Chevron (which I'm not wild about in general) where I was DYING to hear Johannes screaming voice alongside Julie's vocals. That would have been SO fucking sick. But its just her.

The Wreck of S.S. Needle is fucking intense though, wow. Much better song.

I agree I wanted to hear him start bellowing, this album after listening more is probably the biggest disappointment of the year for me. What a missed opportunity to have both vocalists sing together, but Julie really is the only one present. Had both singers shared the stage it would have probably been one of their best albums. It's good, but it's ruined by its limitations of including her as much as possible. It's almost as if they thought that When she isn't singing she isn't present, so they needed her in ever moment to remind us this is a collaboration. I mean I know she isn't going to get behind the drums and start banging away, or get behind the guitar and start strumming, but that doesn't mean she isn't contributing if she isn't singing.That's where it fails immensely. They could have been more duet oriented or whatever, but damn what a fail.

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haha yeah I was a little thrown by how much she really is present. It truly is a Julie Christmas-fronted Cult of Luna album.

Hopefully it will grow on me, because a lot of the music is sick. But I'm kind of glad now I didn't drop $40 on a vinyl....

but man, if they did the same thing as they did for A Greater Call in terms of vocal arrangements, this album would been truly colossal.

Cult of Luna's stuff always takes FOREVER to grow on me though, so that might happen with this too. We'll see.

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haha yeah I was a little thrown by how much she really is present. It truly is a Julie Christmas-fronted Cult of Luna album.

Hopefully it will grow on me, because a lot of the music is sick. But I'm kind of glad now I didn't drop $40 on a vinyl....

but man, if they did the same thing as they did for A Greater Call in terms of vocal arrangements, this album would been truly colossal.

Cult of Luna's stuff always takes FOREVER to grow on me though, so that might happen with this too. We'll see.

The only song I didn't get to hear is the last one on the standard album, not the vinyl exclusive one because I have already heard it live and is like 3 minutes long, but the 5th track. It was just 15 seconds and blank, I know that is the longest song. I don't have high hopes in any way for it though.

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Tracks 1-3 are perfect. In my opinion best CoL numbers since "The Beyond". Julie managed to turn the sad and secondary pussy metal (sorry post metal) into something catchy and really interesting. I can't stop listening to it.

Tracks 4 and 5 are misunderstanding. Well I do not know what is track number 5. Joke? And track 4 is as boring as you can get. Nothing happens there and this effect on vocals... Pressing plant please, please mess up my copy on D side. Maybe an etching?

 

Anyhow I'm so happy to order this and waiting for the vinyl.

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