Review: Lathe of Heaven – Aurora
NYC sci-fi based post-punk band strikes again!
The last few years since the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have been extremely kind towards goth music and the subculture at large. While there are the obvious woes of trend chasers and posers, and the plague of fast fashion, for the most part, being a goth and enjoying the myriad of styles within the expansive label of “gothic music” is giving a lot of people community and belonging at a time when they desperately need it. Naturally, this is also great for bands within the punk and goth niches, and one of the best and most promising of these acts is NYC’s Lathe of Heaven.
Lathe of Heaven is a quartet from Brooklyn that’s gotten a lot of people’s attention—mine included—thanks to their astounding 2023 debut, Bound by Naked Skies, where the band displayed their own unique blend of dreamy and heavy hitting post-punk that is deeply indebted to Finnish new wave/post-punk band Musta Paraati. That debut was one of my top 3 favorite albums of that year, and it’s one I still spin to this day, so you can imagine my excitement when the band and their label Sacred Bones Records, announced Aurora, Lathe of Heaven’s sophomore record. Suffice to say, this one exceeded my expectations.
One aspect I really enjoy about Lathe of Heaven’s music as a whole, and this applies to both their debut and this new record, is how punk is such an intrinsic part of their sound while also having the ethereal melodies and romantic synth flourishes. The band effortlessly switches between dreamy new wave and thrashing post-punk and it all feels seamless and cohesive. And for Aurora, the band really hone into all the elements of their music: when a song is a new wave bop, it’s a bop, and when it’s a post-punk banger, it’s a banger, and so on.
The record as a whole flows in a very intense yet consistent manner, with side A being primarily comprised of the more sauntering and romantic tracks. Side B is where the band really lets their collective hardcore roots fly with some of the most hard-hitting post-punk since Killing Joke and The Chameleons at their prime and the deep cuts of the band’s main influence, Musta Paraati. More impressively, while the album does have a clear delineation between sides like the classic records of the genre, the band also makes sure to mix things up to prevent monotony with a whiplash-inducing switch up. Side A has occasional heavy moments and side B doesn’t skimp on the synths and electronics and the end result is an exquisitely cohesive record.
While the music as a whole is a triumph for the band, I do have to praise all the members for their performances, both individually and as a unit. During the band’s early listening part for the record on Bandcamp, they answered questions and disclosed that they all handle the synths together when making the music, and you can tell, as the synths and electronics never feel overexposed or anemic. They perfectly complement the band’s raw performance and blend well to create atmosphere and enhance the songs.
On an individual level, everyone excels: guitarist Noel Mateus and bassist Daniel Rojas have such a fluid and complementary synergy in the strings that it also makes them stand out. Mateus’ atmospheric yet crunchy riffs and Rojas’ driving and bouncy basslines can best be heard in tracks like “Portrait of a Scorched Earth” and “Oblivion.” Drummer Stephen Reader is the powerhouse that serves as the backbone of the band, and his beats and fills are what make the band’s switches from dreamy pop to heavy punk organic, as he successfully performs steady dance beats and motoric beats; moreover, he also uses electronic percussion expertly, and it meshes well with his acoustic drums. Last and most certainly not least we have Gage Allison, the band’s front man. Much like his bandmates, Allison perfectly applies his skills to both the punkier and dreamier songs; for the former he employs a very punk style of singing that’s powerful but not overstated, as he lets his voice blend with the music and for the latter he employs a more impassioned croon that evokes the greats of the ’80s, while also singing about heady sci-fi, pertinent dystopia and obscure esotericism. All in all, just masterful musicianship and chemistry.
As a whole, there’s very little on my end to nitpick about Aurora, as Lathe of Heaven are just a really solid band that perfectly distills the best elements of classic post-punk with a modern sheen and a strong anarcho-punk spirit. They also maintain a sense of uniqueness both in their music and their aesthetics—props to front man Gage Allison and collaborators for authoring the band’s stellar sci-fi artwork—and definitely display what’s best of modern post-punk. Even if you’re not into anything within the goth umbrella, give Lathe of Heaven a shot, they’ll definitely surprise you.
5/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell
Aurora is available now through Sacred Bones Records.
