LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE : "Lay Me Down O Silent Fear"

This German band has been around for 25 years, so it goes to show that if you stay true to who you are, then the music cycle will spin around to give you another chance at mainstream relevance. While they claim to have adopted a more metal core sound, it feels like this is just a more polished and hooky version of what they were doing in the 90s. It's the most radio-ready I've heard this singer. The overall feel of a song like "Nevermore" is a cross between HIM and Stone Sour, which works well enough for the first two songs; for those, they are going to need more dynamics. 

At times, what they are going for reminds me of Sentenced. Which I can live with, as Sentenced was a band I gained more respect for over the years. They lean more heavily into the HIM side of their formula for "O Silent Fear". There are several times where the singer's cleaner tones remind me of Corey Taylor, particularly when he belts it out from his higher chest register.  "Agony"  is one of the most notable songs where this occurs. There is more of a death metal feel to the first verse of "Faceless" before we are tied back up in a Slipknot. It clicked more on my second pass through. 

The more syncopated nu-metal-like groove to "Arcane Promises" finds their sweet spot in 2026; sure, there are some Slipknot moments, but it works more often than not. They try to pick up where they left off with "A Sinful Desire", The chorus is too Shinedown for me. Then there is a nu-metal power ballad before going into the last song that finds them doubling down on the heaviness. This album sounds good and perhapoo thare are kids who have not heard anything from these guys or Slipknot, so this will be next-level shit to them or just not have had the time to train their ears to these things, perhaps there, so for that reason I will give this one an 8.5. 

pst428