{"id":24950,"date":"2025-08-26T19:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/24950\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T19:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:27:08","slug":"panopticon-laurentian-blue-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/24950\/","title":{"rendered":"Panopticon – Laurentian Blue Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"With the mammoth Panopticon <\/strong>ranking and the electrifying M\u00e5negarm<\/strong> review behind us, we can now look towards the album that the ranking was made in anticipation of: Laurentian Blue. What we weren\u2019t quite expecting was that Laurentian Blue would be an unusual album to follow the ranking. After ten albums of post-black metal, this is the first standalone Panopticon <\/strong>work of purely dark, folksy Americana. It goes without saying that Americana has ever been a key component to the Panopticon<\/strong> soundscape, so do not mistake \u201cunusual\u201d for \u201cunwelcome.\u201d After all, Laurentian Blue is unquestionably a Panopticon <\/strong>album, for it embodies the same soul of Panopticon<\/strong>\u2019s music that Thus Spoke <\/strong>eloquently illuminated in her introduction to the ranking: \u201can immense sense of drama, emotional intensity, and an unpretentious, honest heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only is Laurentian Blue a dark folk\/americana album, it is unapologetic about it. Laurentian Blue is confidently written and deliberate in its minimalism. The instrumentation is kept strictly to the bare necessities: Lunn picks and strums away at his guitar as he sings with the warmth of a crackling fire, with sparse, harmonizing violins as accompaniment. The consecutive exceptions come in the twang of \u201cAn Argument with God\u201d (which is also the only song with any percussion) and the bluegrass \u201cIrony and Causality,\u201d which serve as welcome jolts to the pacing, but the bulk of Laurentian Blue is the sort of somber Americana in \u201cEver North\u201d and \u201cThis Mortal Coil\u2019s Rusted.\u201d It reminds one of the Appalachia iteration of Osi and the Jupiter<\/strong>, with a stronger country lilt heard most clearly in \u201cDown Along the Border.\u201d While the guitarwork in Laurentian Blue is enjoyable, whether it takes the form of wistful melodies (\u201cThe Poetry in Roadkill\u201d) or steely strumming (\u201cEver North,\u201d) the focus cannot help but rest on Lunn\u2019s voice and lyrical work.<\/p>\n

\ufeffLaurentian Blue by Panopticon<\/a><\/p>\n

As always, Lunn is a commanding songwriter fluent in the emotions he wants a song to convey. Nary a note or a word wasted, cutting straight to the heart of what he wants to express. Laurentian Blue is resolute in its deeply depressive lyricism, which becomes inescapable due to the music\u2019s minimalist nature. Lines like \u201cAnd if I needed you to watch me slip away \/\/ I\u2019ll find you on the other side some day\u201d (\u201cDown Along the Border\u201d) and \u201cthe lie that I forced myself to believe \/\/ that I never wasted a breath\u2026\u201d (\u201cEver North\u201d) carry a catharsis that engulfs you, further strengthened by the preternaturally well-timed violins. Sparse though they may be, they\u2019re beautifully implemented, often swelling at just the right moment like in the chorus of \u201cThe Poetry of Roadkill.\u201d With focus this unhindered, lyrics that fail to connect are a greater danger to a song\u2019s impact. The Hemingway-esque bluntness of \u201cAnd morality ain\u2019t dogmatic \/\/ but instead practical \/\/ and an individual \/\/ type of thing\u201d is compelling, but it lacks the poetry present in the rest of the album, and the accompanying music doesn\u2019t sustain the six-minute runtime.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Through the poetic lyrical work and musical minimalism, Laurentian Blue is emotionally consistent, yet therein lies what also makes it a more challenging album. Lunn\u2019s voice is kept adamantly deadpan throughout, indifferently asking you to engage with Laurentian Blue according to its own terms rather than manipulating your emotions. This can create a disconnect; as the violins swell and the notes ascend when Lunn sings the first \u201cLook for me \/\/ ever north,\u201d (\u201cEver North\u201d), I selfishly feel unfulfilled when the notes dispassionately descend in the second. Other times, his singing style makes for some compelling friction. \u201cIrony and Causality\u201d is easily the most energetic song, and is a fascinating backdrop for the deadpan delivery of \u201cNothing matters when you die \/\/ you can only hope time flies \/\/ and someone will visit your grave.\u201d Maintaining such a somber tone across the album is a deliberate choice, one that works through Lunn\u2019s songwriting finesse. But it\u2019s a sadness that\u2019s more aptly felt when you\u2019re already predisposed to such feelings.<\/p>\n

Laurentian Blue will not be for everyone. It\u2019s a singular emotional work that doesn\u2019t guide your feelings, but rather presents its own emotions with understated grace and indifference. But it\u2019s only natural that the appeal of a work this personal will ultimately come down to personal preference. Regardless of one\u2019s taste for Americana and dark folk, Laurentian Blue is nevertheless a well-written collection of songs by a well-proven songwriter with a strong connection and understanding of the genre. You might need to be in the right mood for Laurentian Blue, but if that mood should find you, then Laurentian Blue will be a knowing, empathetic embrace.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: Very Good
DR<\/strong>: 12 | Format Reviewed<\/strong>: 320 kbps
Label<\/strong>: Bindrune Recordings<\/a>
Websites<\/strong>: facebook<\/a> | bandcamp<\/a>
Releases Worldwide<\/strong>: August 15th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the mammoth Panopticon ranking and the electrifying M\u00e5negarm review behind us, we can now look towards the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[1135,12054,7277,6083,7278,20819,5812,20820,18,117,19,17,20821,337,20822,1142,1143],"class_list":{"0":"post-24950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1135","9":"tag-3-5","10":"tag-american-metal","11":"tag-americana","12":"tag-aug25","13":"tag-bindrune-recordings","14":"tag-country","15":"tag-dark-folk","16":"tag-eire","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-laurentian-blue","21":"tag-music","22":"tag-panopticon","23":"tag-review","24":"tag-reviews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}