Cult of Luna | Artist
Cult of Luna is a Swedish heavy metal band formed 1998 in Umeå by Magnus Lindberg (drums, percussion, guitar), Johannes Persson (guitar, lead vocals), Erik Olofsson (guitar), Klas Rydberg (lead vocals), and Fredrik Renström (bass). The current day lineup is founders Lindberg and Persson together with Andreas Johansson (bass), Thomas Hedlund (drums), Fredrik Kihlberg (guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Kristian Karlsson (keyboards, sampler, backing vocals). The band is known for post-metal music similar to the contemporary bands Neurosis and Isis. Their style has progressed from early material being heavily doom-metal influenced to one much less aggressive and more concerned with orchestration. Songs are often long, slow, repetitive and crushing, with heavy sections of distorted guitars interspersed with orchestral interludes and extended, post-rock-esque forays. To-date the band has released 11 studio albums of consistently high standard. After an extended period of inactivity following 2008's Eternal, the band returned on the Indie Recordings label with the excellent Vertikal in 2013 which drew inspiration from Fritz Lang's 1927 film, Metropolis. In 2016 the band released their space-themed seventh album, Mariner, featuring vocalist Julie Christmas. Standout albums include Salvation (2004), Somewhere Along the Highway (2006), Eternal Kingdom (2008), Vertikal (2013), Mariner (2016), A Dawn of Fear (2019) and their 2022 release The Long Road North. The excellent Mariner featured vocals by US vocalist Julie Christmas, who often performs as a duo with Cult of Luna's guitarist Johannes Persson. Perhaps their most popular album is the superb Somewhere Along the Highway from 2006. It attracted rave reviews including this from RYM: "Somewere Along the Highway is one of the most soul-crushing musical experiences I've had. There are subgenres in music that say that they're "depressive" or "emo", but this particular album hits the golden mean in each of those moods: it truly feels depressive, it truly feels emotional. Cult of Luna created a masterpiece in this one."
Artist Website: cultofluna.com
Featured Albums: Cult of Luna
Related Artists: Johannes Persson, Julie Christmas
