House Of Lightning ‘Lightworker’ 2014
Album Cover Art & Design: Francesco Lo Castro
www.discogs.com/master/766469-House-Of-Lightning-Lightworker
Furious guitar work and monster drumming adorns this stunning debut from House of Lightning. Thundering out the gate with the trippy tempo shifts in the opener “Quickness” it quickly sets the tone that this album is going to be insane! And the rest of the album doesn't let up at all! The bridge of the opener channels the best of 80s underground metal and has some extremely impressive drumming throughout the changes.
“Downbeat Situation” careens through breakneck vintage (Master of Puppets/Ride the Lightning era) Metallica rhythm guitar with furious picking and nice open spaces. Sure is great to hear these kind of riffs with a decent drummer behind them! “More Lights More Trails” has some crazy drugged out phased doom guitar riff that almost has to be heard to be believed. I think this is my favorite track on the record just fantastic song writing.
Starting with what almost sounds like a synth, “Vote Yes (To Say You Don't Want It)” quickly coalesces into a daiquiri of delighted riffing with a total left turn chorus that is more of a mini-solo with a sweet ascending riff. The longest track of the album, it boasts some of the neater drumming with some pretty awesome tom rolls over the bridge. I can't stress enough how talented John Ostberg's drumming is. Exceptional.
I love the obnoxious long bends ending “CHKN” which reminds me of a riff Todd Rundgren did on one of Meatloaf's songs that I can't quite recall the name of to make a motorcycle sound. The closer “Ocean” is the song that sounds most like Floor to me with a slower tempo and more “normal” songwriting then the other tracks. A nice chugging riff throughout with some nice clean vocals one of my favorite tracks on the album as well despite feeling like it ends a touch early.
Anytime you get the privilege of hearing musicians this good it can't help but leaving a smile on your face. The fact that guitarist Henry Wilson played drums and not guitar in Floor is shocking to me given how fucking good he is on guitar throughout “Lightworker.” The razor sharp fast changes and shifty song writing demand your attention throughout “Lightworker” and this is a definite album of the year contender. It's no surprise to me they (literally) just got signed by Translation Loss one of my favorite labels who also has a nice slew of bands to check out if you're not familiar with them. Buy it when it comes out and hopefully House of Lightning starts some full US and Euro tours to bring the thunder (I waited to the end for that one hah) near you.
-Chris Tedor