Labels: Chucky The Rat – trvs
Review by: Oli Saunders
Lakmé are an important band to me and this is their discography CD. At a time when I was really into Euro screamo they and a few other bands like Bokanovsky took a slightly different trail, making really harsh music that didn’t sit neatly into the genre. It’s not like most screamo from 2007 or bands around that time which lended to crust such as Alpinist or November 13th, but perhaps lies around the ballpark of the latter. The intensity is amazing and the harsh vocals bring it all together.
The first three songs on the CD are unreleased which is astounding as they are superb. The remainder of the discog contains the bands LP, 7”, split with Bokanovsky (was this really five years ago?), and a few other tracks from early releases. The lyrics have been translated into English and are full of thought. The main take away for me is the struggle to live the lives we want, to define ourselves, and to break the mould. Track seven, which was from the LP, is a main showpiece: poignant audio sample before the song erupts and bases itself around that sample, decrying the damage to nature by society. Screams ring out and the emotion in the music is so sincere.
As with many discographies things get samey after a while, but this is a wonderful collection of songs and the package has been put together with great care. There might only be 500 of these (a slightly different 100 copy anthology was also released soon after the band’s demise) and the band may be dead and buried along with so many others, but they made an effect on my life. Thank you.
17th January 2014