Lake of Tears - A Crimson Cosmos

Just by taking a glance at the cover art for the Lake of Tears album, and you can tell instantly that you are in for something different than anything you have heard before or since it. It ranges from the downright weird itself, with the bearded wizard riding upon a blue fish and a purply pink boat with a duck head on it as well as a sea of spotted mushrooms that look extremely lethal - to - some images that are quite beautiful, including the blue and pink winged butterflies and the reddish-magenta sunset, or is it sunrise? But both the images of beauty and the objects of strange have something in common and that's a very psychedelic look about them, a word that just fits this music all around, and will most likely be referred to multiple times in this review. There's nothing quite like Lake of Tears, a Swedish outfit that started out as an unimaginative doom/black metal band and morphed into something truly 'out there', and by the looks of it, quite drug induced. But no matter, the music on "A Crimson Cosmos" features some groundbreaking stuff, that many will admit, is definitely not something of this world. Taking this basic doom sound and mixing it with a heavy dose of progressiveness, a dash of Metallica, and heapings of trip inspired psychedelic sounds and even a dash of folk here and there. A strange mixture, yes, but when melted together as it is here, it turns out just right. And while Lake of Tears might not be the most technical band on the planet, they are, without a doubt, one that is extremely difficult to pigeon hole, and have a knack for writing some of the grooviest doomy stuff in the 90s.

"Boogie Bubble" takes us to the mental world of the cloudlands, to ride around on purple clouds with wand waving demons. Yes its weird, and of course its strange, but yet there is a endearing quality about not only the twisted lyrics, but the bouncy melodies and warped guitarwork they ride upon. Also, you must wonder what they were smoking when they wrote the lyrics to this song, which is answered in the chorus and title of the tune that follows it. "Cosmic Weed" centers around the man in the moon as he deals dope and requests us to glance at the strange people that inhabit our world. Upbeat sing along tune, with some static distorted guitar that just fuzzes all around the psychedelic trappings and warped vocal harmonies. "Lady Rosenred" has a hint of a 70ish folk music, and its lyrics about a faerie play out like a mythical tale from a children's storybook. "Devil's Diner" introduces us to Lily, who would reappear later in LoT's next album "Forever Autumn" in the song, "Demon You, Lily Anne" where she is revealed as being a sorceress or demonlady of some sort. Here, however, she and the one singing this tune, take a trip down to the fiery bowls of hell, to visit the devil. So they pull up a chair at the table set for three and wait for his presence. Since so many of the songs on the album seem inhanced by various illegal substances, the song "Raistlin and the Rose" has also been saddled with being the result of a bad trip. But in reality, its far from it. The lyrics are woven deeply into the Dragonlance fantasy novels, dealing with the brief love story within between the symbol of light and purity, the Lady Crysiana and the power hungry dark mage Raistlin. The song is handled with a mystical grace, which represents the characters even more than the lyrics do. Strong synthesizer melody which is swapped for some of the most sinister acoustic guitar you'll ever hear, carve out the song beautifully. Addictive and wonderfully put together, this stands out as the finest creation Lake of Tears ever recorded, and the highlight of the album. The song winds down from its progressive/doom Rainbow sound, to a twisted ending with whistling and darkness kissed slow acoustic guitar pluckings.

Even though religious leaders could go to town on this album, declaring it to be the tool of satan to corrupt the youth of today, with its lyrics ranging from the fanatic's favorite subjects such as purple demons, the devil, fantasy themes, and Dragonlance. The music is also 'metal' which makes it even more of a target. However, being so obscure, they dodged the bad press and "A Crimson Cosmos" turned out to be a very fun album not to be taken too seriously. From the bubbly choruses to the inventive lyrics, it is obvious the band was having a blast in creating the album.

Rating - 8.7
By Alanna Evans
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