Trying to classify Lotus Thief's music is kind of like taking a Rorschach test where everyone sees something different. While the group's own bio describes them as a (relatively) uncomplicated merger of "post-black metal, space rock and ambient music," that doesn't really even begin to describe the depth of sound the Bay Area band brings to the table. At any given time, their sound resembles everything from the aforementioned black metal influence to grunge, to 90s alternative rock, and even some of Stevie Nicks's witchier, more possessed moments. It's quite a ride, to say the least.
Lotus Thief is led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Bezaelith, once a member of San Francisco alternative black metal band Botanist. After contributing a track, "Nymphaea Caerulea," to Botanist's 2012 effort Botanist III: Doom in Bloom, drummer Otrebor urged her to pursue Lotus Thief as a full-time project, one to which he lends his own skills behind the kit. The results, beginning in 2014 with the magical Rervm, and now with their LP Gramarye, have been nothing short of phenomenal.
While Lotus Thief boasts a lot of musical influences—and wields them all well—the defining thread is undeniably Bezaelith's resonant, dreamlike vocals, and it's her voice that summons opener "The Book of the Dead" into being with one of her trademark prismatic harmonies. From there, Lotus Thief returns to doing what they do best, laying brilliant, ritualistic melodies over a seamless amalgam of rock rhythms and occasional blasts. It sounds like an awkward marriage at best, and admittedly, in another band's hands it well might be an outright disaster, but the band's vision is so clear,and Bezaelith's voice is such a commanding and unifying force, that you can't help but surrender.
Like Rervm, the new album finds its inspiration in ancient texts. While the debut was based on the 1st century B.C. text "De Rerum Natura" by Titus Lucretius Carus, Gramarye finds its inspiration in an even wider range of source materials, from Homer's Odyssey to the Merseburg Charms, the only known samples of Germanic pagan text written in Old High German. While that may seems like a gimmick (the band does call their music "text metal"), the sense of history is palpable in their songs, and has led to some especially beautiful lyrics (Just check out the words to "Lvx" on Rervm).
Nine-minute burner "Circe" follows "The Book of the Dead," largely eschewing the sense of frantic urgency that preceded it. The song unfolds like incense smoke, its gentle melodies snaking over Otrebor's deft drumming, growing in weight and power until it seems to fill the room with sheer presence. It's a track that encapsulates Lotus Thief's ancient, ritualistic appeal and why they don't really sound like anyone else in heavy music. Meanwhile "The Book of Lies" stretches the bands abilities as inter-genre peacemakers to the limit. After opening with of one of Gramarye's heavier riffs, the song shifts into something nearly resembling a lullaby before riding a jam-inspired riff back into one of the albums most frantic sequences, with Otrebor's speedy drums supporting a massive, climbing tower of melodies, all crowned by Bezaelith's powerful chants.
Gramarye closes with "Idisi" and "Salem," two sumptuous quasi-ballads that drift along in an astral state, never reaching achieving the fury of the album's first half, but maintaining a steadying, deeply spiritual weight. They're the perfect platforms for Bezaelith and new backing vocalist Iva Toric to flex their airtight, crystalline harmonies, and the effect is hypnotic. If there's one complaint to be had at this point, it's simply that there isn't more material here, but considering the quality of what's on display, it seems like a minor quibble
It's fair to debate Lotus Thief's classification as metal – as some have been doing in the hallowed halls of The Metal Archives – but metal's arcane soul and depth of spirit are undeniably present, and anyone with a true appreciation of those elements should find nothing but joy and ecstasy in Gramarye.
Score: 9.5/10
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