Would you ever believe that a band from Italy plays old-school death metal? I wouldn’t for some reason, and reading the biography of Lectern I get some reasons. The 90s death metal scene rose in the States and, although it “migrated” in Sweden and evolved in other sub-genres (blackened death, technical death, melodic death), the legacy of bands like Possessed, Death, Morbid Angel and other still lives on. On this basis, Lectern formed in 1999 decided to honor their traditional influences and recreate a pure death metal sound. Having faced many difficulties due to the unpopularity of death metal in Italy and many changes in their line-up, their persistence resulted in two full-length albums. Here I am going to talk about their latest album ‘Precept Of Delator’ which was released by Via Nocturna last September.
I think the album follows the shadow of Morbid Angel and Deicide. The first track ‘Gergal Profaner’ enters dynamically with fast drum blasts and sinister guitar riffs. The vocals are really brutal and remarkable. So from the introductory track you know you won’t get disappointed. The whole album follows the same pattern with decent guitar solos and very good drumming by Marco Valentine. The variation lies on the techniques they use in each track. For example, ‘Distil Shambles’ has a thrash vibe, ‘Ditpych Of Perked Oblation’ sounds Slayer-ish, and so on. As I said in the beginning Lectern get the 90s Death metal feeling and offer it to us as in its raw form.
Now it’s a good time to refer to the lyrics’ themes. It couldn’t be anything else but satanic lyrics. Don’t ask me about the tracks’ titles, since I am not an expert of the English language and to be honest I don’t dare look up their meaning. I believe the lyrics, although simple and concise, serve their purpose on this album and the cover artwork serves it hundred times more (kudos to the Indonesian artist Andi Dechristinize).
To sum up, ‘Precept Of Delator’ is a decent death metal album. Fans of the 90s American scene will appreciate it even with its flaws here and there.
Mary Kalaitzidou