Year: 2025
Label: Fetzner Death Records
Rating: 8 / 10
Over the years, the second VICTIM PATH album has turned into something that will never see the light of day. I remember how V01d and I talked in 2012, right after the release of “Surrounded by Pain” on Possession, and even then he, a promising sound engineer, was more interested in the technical details of the sound than the music itself. Well, then, obviously, he had the “NOKTURNAL MORTUM soundman syndrome" (I'm talking about that very legendary man who can't listen to BURZUM, because it is played too sloppy). Skills are growing, and the sound that seemed decent yesterday already seems like shit today. And there's no time to do rehearsals and new material, because you always need to record someone else. Therefore, although VICTIM PATH played new songs live and in the updated line-up already in 2013, the recording of the album began only 5 years later and lasted another 5.
Quite often, albums that have been created for 10+ years turn out to be something grandiose, because they absorb a lot of ideas that have accumulated over this period. I won't say that about "Lost in Stellar Dust". The album is not grandiose, but it is mature and has a very high quality. Instead of cramming as much as possible into it, the group focused on refining the initial ideas. Therefore, "Lost in Stellar Dust" lasts only 33 minutes and contains only the "meat". No fillers, no unnecessary time-consuming fragments, no useless interludes, and so on. Solos, riffs, vocal parts, rich acoustics - everything is solid and consistent.
Compared to the first album, "Lost in Stellar Dust" looks like an adult man compared to his younger self. Basically, everything is more or less the same, but the approach is more sensible. First of all, of course, you notice dramatic change in the vocals. Farmakon's hysterical wail, performed in the best traditions of SILENCER and early BETHLEHEM, was replaced by the harsh and muffled groans of Akefa1. There is no less suffering in his voice, only this suffering, so to speak, is mental, and not physical as before. Secondly, the music has also become more relaxed. It maintains a medium tempo, doesn't use blast beats very often, and always lets Vo1d and Narg demonstrate their guitar skills. "Edges of Insanity" is slightly different, as it is the oldest song written for Farmakon, and it has more dragged riffs and vocal parts. The last thing about vocals is that in ”Built of Lies" the chorus is sung in a clear voice, and it sounds very, very good.
Accordingly, the lyrical and visual components shifted to a greater aloofness. The band's logo and the texts are full of cold images that have a rather weak relation to mundane problems (however, misanthropic messages are still ingrained). Again, this is a natural age-related transformation, which I can relate to. Shortly before the release of "Surrounded...", I had just ended the depressive-suicidal stage of my life that comes to every young man one day, and today, when I listen to "Lost...", I am 35, and my pessimism has a more mature form. Youngsters find inspiration in torments, older men don't spend too much time on them, because soulless stars above don't care about them.
In summary, I won't say that "Lost in Stellar Dust" blows you away, but it's unlikely that it had such a goal. This is a solid, serious album of a high European level. It is a pity that it was released on a little-known label with no identity, but these days it's difficult for Belarusians to get signed at all, even if they live in Poland. The physical edition has the form of a digipack with a 16-page booklet. Inside you will find the lyrics and photos of each band member. Details on a video.
