French atmospheric black metal duo Lunar Tombfields return road-tested and well prepared with a better defined sense of self on this second full-length album. ‘An Arrow to the Sun‘ finds the band easing out of their carapace into new skin between increasingly varietal vocal expressivity and shorter, more condensed statements which create a cohesive and largely entertaining experience. What their work still lacks in memorable profundity is made up for within an engaging thread, an outpouring of malaise which impresses for the momentum built up front and the frustrated fallout afterwards.

Lunar Tombfields formed circa 2020 by way of vocalist, guitarist/bassist M. of blackened death metal band Absolvtion who was soon joined by drummer/vocalist Äaerzerath who is best known for his work with Natremia both of them took their time conceiving of an atmospheric black metal style that was tragedian and dismal in its drift. The product of their efforts was pretty clear in its Cascadian and depressive atmoblack idyll as the debut full-length (‘The Eternal Harvest‘, 2022) from the group had its heavier, charged jets of riff but fell into typical dramatism quite often. I believe the song title “A Dialogue with the Wounded Stars” speaks to this most directly to said influence thought the song itself gives a complete impression of their longer-form songwriting and style. While a few folks found it notable to some extent, myself included, the general consensus was that it wasn’t such a unique sound. This time around they’ve a much stronger voice to start and this fundamentally reframes their presentation.

Crestfallen as some kind of suicidal dark metal lunacy arisen “An Elegy to the Fog Dancer” comes rushing in as a a wall of ringing-loud sweep of doom, this three minute intro serves to introduce the larger opening number “Solar Charioteer” with a layer of foreshadowing clear enough without revealing the main melody of its companion. That opening piece is dramatic, poured directly from a full head with the flair of moderne French black metal melodicism and atmospheric dread. Lunar Tombfields‘ style is not exactly Nécropole adajcent, though, and lands as closer related to German dark metal inspired depressive black metal (see: Karg, etc.) than the Wolves in the Throne Room afflicted sound of the duo’s first LP. While “Solar Charioteer” is rousing, spirited in its forward flung whip and faster pacing that ride is essentially the main high point of the record overall. There are some finer details to explore and a broader oeuvre to consider but much of ‘An Arrow to the Sun‘ tempers the heroic pace of this opener to a slower, more miserably dirging burn. This works quite well for the dark metal inspired chords they bring to the bent intro to standout “Représailles” right afterwards, for me this song hits a poetic cadence which finds its variation beyond what has been presented thus far and equals the movement and detail of the opener, holding the momentum of the full listen strong and reinforces that first twenty minute dip into the changed voice of Lunar Tombfields.

The mundanity of “As Iron Calls, So Pile the Dreams” is debatable but for my own taste the mid-album piece is dryly redundant and the first half simply blasting and swerving through typical atmo-melodic graces only contributes to the mixed bag feeling of the second half of the LP compared to the defining, well-representative first half. Side B is muddled, repeating a lot of similar melodic ideas and especially vocal threads throughout, yet it is still related to the larger thread presented by the album; There is however a gleaming black heart at the center of this ghastly open ribcage and I would say “The Amber Herd” is as close as we get to yanking it loose with the subtleties of the dual rhythm guitar melodicism (see: the unholy ~2:45 minute mark) available in the first half of the song. Spiking with erratic bursts of energy, the strangely blunted and frustrated tonal piece again leans into this evolved post-black metal idea most while reaching for a few new elements to introduce. Spoken, shouted, sung and howled this piece is the broadest angled window available to the dwindling spirit which possesses ‘An Arrow to the Sun‘. From my point of view this is the most entertaining peak of their expression. Rather than impress with believable emotion it presents a complex range of expressions per by the vocalist(s) register, creating a bleak dialogue which personifies the changes the band’ve made between the distanced drift of album one and the close-up open woundedness of album two.

The statement of the album does not deepen within its closing piece (“Le Chant des Tombes”) but restates the same shouted vocal cadence, pacing and maudlin rock chord progressions. For my own taste this’d just as well have been a five song album further away from the fifty minute exhaustion of one centralized ideal. Lunar Tombfields makes up for this verbosity to some extent with a richly realized sound, consistent composition and a complete and well-rounded (belabored, even) thread. The first three minutes of the record were not properly capitalized upon in terms of bringing that same dark and doomed register to the rest of album, this would have provided the necessary variety to carry its ~47 minute length, but of course I can only judge what is and not what isn’t; Otherwise the aesthetic of the album is given a dreary look per the cover art from Sözo Tözo, the composition, including the logo/text boxes in a negative space that ends up looking busy but the image itself is evocative of aiming for a great, if not hopeless goal.

Though I’d found most of this sophomore full-length from Lunar Tombfields above-average in its onboarding moments there is yet plenty more room to continue developing their sound. The average atmospheric black metal fan will appreciate the continuously flowing relationship between the pieces of the running order though I’d found myself far more impressed with the first trio of seconds overall. At the end of the day ‘An Arrow to the Sun’ is a net gain, an event of positive growth for the duo which has yielded some of their more memorable songcraft to date. A moderately high recommendation.

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