Review: Llumen – 'Promo'

LLUMEN 

'Promo' 

SELF-RELEASED 

Belgian musician Pieter Coussement, formerly of Sad CBA, is back with a new musical outlet. Still honouring his early industrial and ebm influences such as Skinny Puppy and Front 242, his new project Llumen is very much a product of the 21^st century. Incorporating psy-trance, idm and big-beat into his repetoire, Llumen offers up reverential club-orientated tracks with an innovative twist.

This eight-track promo gives an insight into his new musical manifesto with a range of songs that will no doubt see Llumen become a well known name very soon. 'Where We Collide', 'Force Of Nature', 'Cold In December' and 'Lux Aeterna' are strong electro tracks with an undeniable dance quality to them courtesy of their solid beats and catchy lead melodies.

Coussement isn't afraid to get a bit experimental though as tracks such as 'Silicon Cinema' and 'Huntress' can attest with their less linear constructions and emphasis on dark, sometimes ambient atmospherics.

But it's the martial tinged old school harsh ebm of 'New Moon Rise' that is the definitive stand-out track here as a fine blend of the anthemic dance leanings and the experimental ambitions displayed on the rest of the disc.

There is an awful lot going on here with a lot of styles and influences ever present throughout the track list. But Coussement consistently finds a nice balance in his songwriting, which is reflected in the production and mixing of the songs as well. The only issue that occurs on the tracks is that occasionally the vocal delivery doesn’t seem quite like it fits with the timing, which makes the tracks sound rougher than they really are.

Ultimately though, Llumen hint at great things here and a full-length outing will undoubtedly show this to be one project to keep an eye on over the next couple of years.  

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