No Life 'til Metal - CD Gallery

Lament are a Mexican, progressive, death metal band that started off life as Beheaded. Before signing with Rowe Productions the band changed their name to Lament. The photo above is Ultimatum with Lament main man Able Gomez (center) taken at the Texas Rockfest 1997.

This is a fabulous death metal album. The music contains loads of blast beats and guttural vocals, but it also contains loads of melody, tempo changes, and technical prowess. Even the cover art is outstanding, being painted by Troy Dunmire who has done work for other death metal bands including Mortification and Metanoia. This disc was produced by Jeff Scheetz, who also played much of the outstanding lead work. I had the opportunity to meet these guys at the Texas Rockfest in 1997. Very cool guys, I should have had them sign my disc. Argh!

Lament - Through the Reflection (Little Rose) 1999
Lament - Through the Reflection (Bombworks) 2009

1. "Through the Reflection" (6:27)
2. "Come Near" (5:26)
3. "1250 Dead Without Reason" (8:18)
4. "A Dream at Sunset" (4:35)
5. "The Wind of My Heart" (5:37)
6. "A Cry Near The Forest" (6:10)
7. "Roots of Wind" (5:50)
8. "Tears ... Instrumental for Reflection" [instrumental] (4:09)
Retroactive Bonus Tracks (Beheaded - El Vallede la Decisión)
9. "El Valle De La Decisión" (3:54)
10. "El Imperio De La Oscuridad" (4:56)
11. "Oscura Soledad" (4:12)
12. "From Pain To Hope" (6:10)

Mexico's Lament return with their second release. Lament have streamlined down to a three piece without vocalist Marco Perez. Drummer Abel Gomez picks up the lead vocals, which should make for interesting live shows, without a front man. This album continues in the same melodic death metal mode as "Tears of a Leper" only this time around, the band bring in some of their native Mexican influences into the music. This gives the band some uniqueness. However, one of the biggest difference from the band's debut is the production. The drum sound is far superior to the band's debut. Also, the bass guitar is featured far more prominently in the mix and is slightly in front of the guitars, something that is pretty rare for death metal. Actually, the bass tends to hold up the melody in many songs as it weaves it's way through subdued distorted guitar rhythms and some very good drum work. Frankly, I have a hard time labeling this album death metal as the music is melodic, nearly melancholy at times, and there isn't much speed, blast beats or even deep growls. Abel Gomez's vocals are heavy, but he tends to sing in a more hardcore, shout style. Personally, I think the music here would be better described as melodic, progressive heavy metal.

The original release Of "Through the Reflection" was on Finnish label Little Rose Productions, had a very limited run and had been out of print for almost a decade before Bombworks re-released the album with four bonus tracks. The bonus tracks are taken from the band 1995 demo tape, "El Valle De La Decisión" when they were still called Beheaded. These four demo tracks are raw, aggressive, death metal with deep, gutteral growls and stand out in stark contrast to the album tracks.. Unfortunately the production on these songs are pretty poor. The re-release features new cover art that is dark and fitting of the music. However, the overall layout of the re-release is pretty poor. The small type on the 6-panel digi is nearly unreadable. Also, I am not a big fan of the new, cheap, eco-friendly, "green" packaging that is becoming the new industry standard. These new digi-packs do not have a tray insert whatsoever, but rather a little rubber stopper to hold the CD. Personally, I'd much rather have the regular jewel case releases or the old digi-packs with the tray insert glued in.

1. "The Sadness of Your Steps" (3:51)
2. "Breathless" (4:31)
3. "Ocean of Feelings" [instrumental] (5:00)
4. "As An Eagle Flies" (4:59)
5. "Silent Hero" (4:00)
6. "Confronting the Past" (3:56)
7. "Guerreros Olvidados (Forgotten Warriors)" (3:53)
8. "Mist in My Eyes" (3:36)
9. "Hermanos en Batalla (Brothers in Battle)" (4:$5)
10. "Within My Dreams" (3:35)

Abel Gomez is a master at creating music that is heavy, melodic and brutal all at the same time. "Breathless" is all of these things. As with past discs, "Breathless" is dynamic and full of energy. Musically, "Breathless" doesn't stray far from the first two CDs. The big difference is in the vocals, which are all sung without the death growls or thrash yells. Another slight difference is that some of Abel's Mexican heritage shows in some of the songs. There is even a song sung completely in Spanish this time around. While I welcome the change in vocal style, it seems that Abel is not quite comfortable singing this way yet. At times he sounds great, while at others he seems to be holding back a bit. Still, I much prefer the clean vocals to the cookie cutter death growls of the past. I actually think it might have been cool had he mixed it up a bit and did a little bit of both. I always enjoy the variety in vocals and think it adds to the dynamic songwriting. Perhaps one of my favorite tracks on this disc has no vocals at all. "Ocean of Feelings" is a fairly lengthy instrumental but never gets boring. The lyrics are another quality that attracts me to this band, as Lament are unashamedly a Christian band, however, their lyrics are personal and thought provoking, rather than arrogant or preachy.

1. "Comienza el Amanecer" (3:24)
2. "Un Canto entre Mis Lágrimas" (4:33)
3. "We Keep the Flame Buring" (4:09)
4. "Tears of a Leper" (3:26)
5. "From Pain to Hope" (5:04)
6. "Rivers of Loneliness" (5:16)
7. "Through the Reflection" (6:28)
8. "A Dream At Sunset" (4:36)
9. "Tears...Instrument for Reflection" (4:10)
10. "Breathless" (4:33)
11. "Ocean of Feelings" [instrumental] (5:02)
12. "Confronting the Past" (3:56)

It's been several years since we've heard anything from Mexico's melodic death metal band Lament. "14 Years Rocking the World" is the band's first release since 2002. However, it is not a new release, but rather a retrospective collection that also includes three new songs, with the promise of a new CD in the future. The new material is much like what you would expect from this band, melodic heavy metal with gutteral, growled vocals. All three new songs are mid-paced and not overly heavy, but are bursting with energy and not boring in the least. The band has always made use of mixing together the heavy, distorted guitars with plenty of clean guitar sounds, and that is also the case with the three new songs presented here. Two of the three songs are sung in Spanish this time around. The remaining nine tracks are taken from the band's past catalog and are in chronological order. These songs offer a good overview of the band's past. You can really hear the growth in this band from album to album. Unfortunately the production from album to album is different, making the overall listening experience here a little unever, although the mastering is well done and none of the tracks seem to be louder than any others. I thought it was very cool that the band decided to include their instrumental "Ocean of Feelings".

Lament - Renaissance (independent) 2009

1.    As An Eagle Flies part II [intro] (1:15)
2.    Soul (3:00)
3.    Here Comes The Fire (4:56)
4.    Santo es Jehova (Holy is the Lord, Creator of the Universe) (:39)
5.    Fields (4:10)
6.    Psalms (4:49)
7.    Move from the Valley (5:39)
8.    Decisions (6:35)
9.    Culture and Praise (:59)
10. Take This Life (5:28)
11. Strings To Heaven [instrumental] (1:44)
12. He Is My Peace (1:02)
13. Arrevientete (Holier than Thou) (:24)
14. Prepare For Battle [instrumental] (1:38)

Mexico’s Lament are relentless and never give up, despite having to change labels multiple times and now being completely without a label. "Renaissance" is the band’s fourth new studio album since changing their name to Lament from Beheaded in 1997. With Renaissance, the band have returned to a melodic heavy metal sound. The vocals are a low, gutteral grunts and growls, though I am hesitant to call this death metal. The songs themselves blend multiple styles of metal. "Soul" for instance is mid-paced, classic heavy metal, while "Here Comes the Fire" is a bit more progressive and blends in doom metal and some upbeat riffs that are borderline thrash metal. "Santo es Jehova" on the other hand is a short song with no drums or guitars. This song features what sounds like a flute and a some sort of percussive instrument with some very odd sounding clean vocals sung in Spanish. This short, thirty-second song is merely meant as an interlude. There are several other interludes like this as well, including "Culture and Praise" which sounds like some sort of native Indian song, and "Strings to Heaven", which is a melancholy, guitar and bass instrumental that would have fit in well on the band’s debut. Likewise, "Take This Life" is a melodic, acoustic based worship song. Unfortunately the clean vocals on this song are a bit awkward and don’t work quite as the harsher vocals used on most of the album.

For the most part, the rest of the songs here are all heavy. "Fields", "Move from the Valley", "Decisions", "He Is My Peace" and "Arrevientete" return the band to a heavy sound, complete with the harsh vocals. "Move from the Valley" is actually the first full on thrash/death metal song on the album. "He Is My Peace" and "Arrevientete" are both ultra fast, ultra short death metal songs as well. As has always been the case with Lament, the album is filled with those signature, melodic, guitar leads.

"Renaissance" was recorded and released by the band by themselves. As such, the production is not stellar. The album has a raw, gutteral sound and is a bit thin, though nothing is overly distracting at all. Guitars, bass, drums, vocals are all heard well. The album is properly mastered, with everything brought up to modern volumes and levels. Despite being an independent release, the packaging isn’t bad either, featuring a six panel foldout cover and front cover art by Michael Hrubovcak of American death metal band Monstrosity.

Lament - Left Behind (Roxx) 2013

1. Left Behind (3:17)
2. Break The Spirit Of Death (4:13)
3. Depression (3:32)
4. Attacked By Arqueros (3:58)
5. Remolineando (3:37)
6. In The Hall Of Seven Mountains (3:53)
7. Lament (3:06)

Album number five for Mexican death metal band Lament (not counting the 2008 "best of" compilation). "Left Behind" was released to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of the band. On this album, founding member and drummer Abel Gomez switches instruments, playing guitar instead. For "Left Behind", the band have retained the melodic heavy metal sound that we saw on "Renaissance" and early albums like "Tears of a Lepar". The vocals are shrieking grunts and growls, mostly of the inhaled growled variety. The lyrics are sung in Spanish.

Though Lament are generally regarded as a death metal band, musically they don't really have much in common with traditional death metal. There are no blast beats or super fast double bass parts. As has been the case in the past, the band blends styles of metal, taking in influences from death metal, thrash metal and classic heavy metal. However, unlike the last album there is much less experimentation with their sound. There are none of those traditional Mexican or instrumental interludes nor are there any acoustic guitar passages. Rather what we have here is seven tracks of mostly up-tempo, melodic heavy metal and power metal. Probably the standout tracks for me are "Attacked By Arqueros", with it's somber introduction and heavy riffing and "Remolineando", a song with an anthem-like quality.

Though "Left Behind" is on a independent record label Roxx Records, the band recorded this album independently. However, the production qualities seems improved overall over their last album. For whatever reason, however, there is a slight drop in quality in the last couple tracks. The last two tracks were recorded at a different time and in a different studio than the main five tracks of this EP. "In The Hall Of Seven Mountains" and "Lament" were added as bonus tracks. Despite the production differences, the songs themselves fit right in with the initial tracks.