Lunar Chamber – Shambhallic Vibrations [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

If you were to describe “things that are up El Cuervo’s tree,” progressive death metal with Buddhist themes running for only 30 minutes would be quite high up. Such was the promise of Shamhallic Vibrations by Lunar Chamber. Fortunately, the quality matched – even exceeded – my expectations. I had thought this was a full-length but it was only as I was preparing this article that I noticed it is pitched as an EP. Given its place on my AotY list and a longer-than-Reign in Blood duration, I was only too happy to prepare a proper write-up.

“Spirit Body and the Seeing Self” is a good place to start. It exemplifies the core Lunar Chamber sound. An acoustic opening gives way to a brutal beatdown with slamming leads, gurgled vocals and blast beats. Its riffs are intricate but powerful. The songs wraps progressive technicality, slamming drop-shifts and blackened drumming into singular passages that are unfailingly cohesive. Lunar Chamber are clever but not precocious, self-indulgent but not masturbatory. They remember that technicality should be a tool, not a purpose; a reality that an entire sub-genre of death metal somehow forgets.

Shambhallic Vibrations is consummately engrossing, principally through its dynamism and variety. While the aforementioned track demonstrates the band’s core skillset, “Interlude (Ancient Sage)” demonstrates their synthy prowess and the mammoth closer called “III. Crystalline Blessed Light Flows… from Violet Mountains into Lunar Chambers” takes things into new and weirder territory. Its opening is spacy and contemplative, but this gives way to a beefy doom metal passage. The slowness, despondency and chanted vocal hook pair with the progressive death metal for a compelling finale. Lunar Chamber build natural transitions and musical trinkets into their sound, framing and balancing the heavy material. The insane instrumentation, varied vocals and bold melodies ensure that it’s impossible to be bored by this release.

All this may sound messy, but these 30 minutes are arranged such that it’s exciting but not chaotic. I ordinarily dislike detached introductions and interludes, especially those titled as such. But unlike most, those here aren’t gratuitous. The introduction is a 90-second microcosm of the synth-heavy, progressive death metal you’ll experience across the release. And the interlude is a quiet breather but surprisingly complex in its own way, featuring a number of inter-weaving guitar and synth lines. It’s technical without being loud or heavy. These briefer tracks, and then the huge closer, only emphasize that every part of Shambhallic Vibrations is thoughtfully-arranged.

Lunar Chamber can proudly boast a type of death metal that’s shockingly inventive, varied and addictive. Even as an EP, it won a spot on my end-of-year list with little difficulty. You’d be a fool to miss this as a fan of progressive or death metal.

Tracks to Check Out: “Spirit Body and the Seeing Self,” “III. Crystalline Blessed Light Flows… from Violet Mountains into Lunar Chambers”



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