Lurk – Fringe (Review)

This is the third album from Finnish sludge/doom band Lurk.

Now here’s an album that’s all about texture and atmosphere. Fringe is a cross between bands such as Neurosis, Inter Arma, Sea of Bones, and labelmates Jupiterian, to name but a few. However, on Fringe the band display their own dark personality, and are firmly convincing in their own right.

Mixing sludge and doom with psychedelic and progressive tendencies, this is 44 minutes of material that focuses on feeling and nuance instead of opting for a blatantly crushing approach. That’s not to say that the band can’t bring out the heavy riffs and thick distortion when they want to, it’s more that the heaviness of the band is simply there to service the less tangible, less obvious sides of the music. Lurk deal in atmosphere and mood more than anything else.

There’s a black metal element to the band’s music that seems to seethe and writhe just below the surface. Yes, there’s a malignant, malevolent streak to Fringe. It may be buried in sludge and doom, but it’s there just beneath the surface, nonetheless. One might even say it’s Lurk-ing…

Oh dear, I’ll get my coat…

Oppressive and sinister, the band’s music takes a lesser travelled path, despite their obvious influences, and Fringe is an immersive listen. I like that it easily creates dark soundscapes and spins macabre tales. Wielding atmosphere and mood like a weapon, Lurk have created something captivating and well-rounded on Fringe.