Review by Vinny for Lamp of Murmuur - The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy (2025)
If there is one modern black metal act that I am guilty of neglecting, it is Lamp of Murmuur. Barring a brief flirtation with his debut and a cursory listen to Saturnian Bloodstorm, I have never really invested much time in one of black metal’s most talked about acts of recent times. Buoyed by the two singles that came out ahead of the new album, I made a note to ensure that I listen through the latest offering with a consciously critical ear. Amidst the dashing keys and chimes that accompany the riffs and grim (if not somehow watery sounding) rasps there is clearly more going on than any simple black metal album and so a critical ear is very much needed for this one. Background music this is not.
The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy bases its core sound in the rudimentary elements of black metal. Embellished with the symphonic flourishes of Emperor it still retains the attack of Immortal whilst maintaining an often-simplistic approach to riffs. Where things do get interesting is when the post-punk elements come into play. Now, I personally enjoy post-punk and do have a few albums in my collection. The connection to black metal is not hard to make from a thematic perspective with angst, repression and societal decay (to mention but a few) being common across both sub-genres. That is not to say that LoM get the inclusion of this style correct in my view. As much as I accept that clean vocals can have their place in black metal, there placement on this album does feel off at times. Adopting that familiar Attila crooning style that I picked up on in the debut album, LoM again deploy this style here alongside some more cleaner singing. The cleaner parts work well on the more post-punk obvious tracks (‘The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy Part I – Moondance’ & ‘The Dreaming Prince in Ectasy Part II - Twilight Orgasm’), yet there is a couple of occasions when they feel invasive and detract from the enjoyment of the track.
Overall though this fusion of styles is refreshing and is well balanced enough to still make this feel like a cohesive opus. Would the three tracks that make up the component parts of the title work as a standalone offering (as an EP, for example)? Hell yes. However, by being included on the album they show the variety available in the LoM arsenal. The lead work on Part III is sublime in a post-metal styling, yet the vocal element is classic Emperor to my ears. The more ambient parts are the only part of the album that is lost on me really, but even this may grow on me with repeated listens. It is just a shame for me that the album ends on a sour note since it is an acoustic number that stands out as being of different character to everything else present on the record.