Artist: Lullaby
Country: Brazil
Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions
Formats: LP
Year: 2023
Back in the mid-80’s to the early 90’s the American Wild Rags Records label was one of the leading institutes for extreme metal, especially within the borders of the USA. Ricardo “Richard C.” Campos proved to have a good nose for bands that would turn out to play a vital role in developing extreme metal in general and American metal most specifically. He was there quickly to introduce bands like Blasphemy, Nuclear Death, Impetigo, Necrophagia and Order From Chaos to the wider public. Not everything went smoothly and there were certainly some controversies, but his visionary eye was undoubtedly of great importance. Not only through his label, but his Wild Rag! zine had a circulation of over 30,000 copies at its peak, try to imagine that…
Although the label stopped many years ago, the last releases were from the late 90’s, a kind of collaboration with Nuclear War Now! Productions got off the ground. In recent years, the label’s old stock has been sold through the shop of Nuclear War Now! Productions as yet, and a good number of the old Wild Rags Records back catalogue saw a reissue through the same label.
However, that Lullaby would also get a second life no one probably saw coming. This rather obscure one-woman act from Brazil is, if at all, best known for the (semi-)nude photos of the musician herself. Just as her somewhat overly superficial writings on Satanism are, her music is little widely distributed and can also count on minimal appreciation.
Yet Nuclear War Now! Productions saw a market for a compilation of some of Lullaby’s somewhat older works. So, here it is, out of the deeper regions of the Wild Rags Records’ archives: Lullaby. This LP-only release features the ‘My Master Lucifer’-EP from 1993 and the A-side of the ‘The Morning Star’-demo tape from 1996 – the two remaining tracks on the B-side are pressed on a separate 7” EP, only available on the die-hard version of this compilation LP (that comes on red vinyl and also includes a woven patch). While the ‘My Master Lucifer’-EP seems like a logical choice, as this is the most noteworthy out of the Lullaby discography, the recordings from ‘The Morning Star’ seems a bit randomly chosen as it could have just been any other of the earlier material instead.
To me personally, I always had a bit of a fascination for the 5-track ‘Lucifer’-7” EP from 1993, also released by Wild Rags Records. Although it is clear that none of the material Lullaby ever released was of any high standard, both in composition or in aesthetics, it conveyed a certain compelling power. At least to my youthful ears. The bleak sound that combines both elements from Doom Metal and Black Metal with Lullaby’s harsh whispering “vocals” always intrigued me. The super primitive nature of the music was providing enough matter for discussion and, frankly, just plane misunderstanding. Or, and I definitely don’t rule that out, Lullaby is just what it is: music by a rather talentless musician, but that somehow knew to struck a certain atmosphere.
But let’s put things straight, by calling Lullaby a “rather talentless” musician I don’t mean to sell her short or to sound overly disrespectful, but the minimalist and oversimplified character of the music doesn’t give it so much body. Instead it is something that has to appeal to you, you have to find the charm in it. That charm is to be found in the bare boned and shrill guitar tone, quite reminiscent to the earliest of Black Sabbath recordings, simple drums, hissing vocals and the ambient passages that lures the overall sound into a late 80’s proto-Black Metal feel.
It is highly unlikely that this compilation LP will gain the band, apparently Lullaby is still active, any new admirers, but if you share that same inexplicable fascination I have for this band, then this record at least offers a return to that obscure sound of this peculiar band. Be that as it may, with today’s musical knowledge and experience, regardless of any personal taste or musical reference, it can definitely be concluded that Lullaby was (or is) a truly unique band.
