{"id":261466,"date":"2025-11-14T01:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T01:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261466\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T01:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T01:06:08","slug":"lamp-of-murmuur-the-dreaming-prince-in-ecstasy-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261466\/","title":{"rendered":"Lamp of Murmuur – The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"L.A.-based M., the mastermind behind Lamp of Murmuur, has been busy this year. In addition to releasing two other solo projects\u2014Silent Thunder\u2019s EP, Soulspear, and Magus Lord\u2019s full-length, In the Company of Champions\u2014he\u2019s readying to unleash his fourth Lamp of Murmuur long player, The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy, this November. Far removed from the very lo-fi, kvltish cassette-only demos of 2019, Lamp of Murmuur has steadily matured over the years. Our resident shark, Carcharodon, had \u2018tons of fucking fun\u2019 with 2023\u2019s Saturnian Bloodstorm, highlighting its heavy Immortal influence. When I spied The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy sitting unclaimed in the sump, I reached out to our scrivening squalus, who graciously ceded his seniority, hoping I had as much fun with LoM\u2019s newest outing as he had with its last. Will The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy build off the excitement of Saturnian Bloodstorm, and further M.\u2019s musical momentum, or will we discover that Lamp of Murmuur\u2019s shine has dimmed a bit?<\/p>\n

At first blush, The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy extends Saturnian Bloodstorm\u2019s thrashing black metal template before wading into waters teeming with new wave and gothic metal elements. Immortal\u2019s influence still lurks amidst M.\u2019s swirling, rapid-fire tremolos and galloping chugs (\u201cHategate (the Dream-Master\u2019s Realm)\u201d), while twinkling, K\u00ebkht Ar\u00e4kh-like keys lace the guitar-driven melodies on \u201cForest of Hallucinations,\u201d its intro emitting South of Heaven-era Slayer vibes from the harmonized leads. M.\u2019s vocals, as blackly metallic and viscerally lethal as ever, are dichotomously connected to the music and venture into minimally explored cleaner climes while sharing the spotlight on \u201cA Brute Angel\u2019s Sorrow\u201d with guest vocalist Crying Orc (K\u00ebkht Ar\u00e4kh). For beyond the Nightmare on Elm Street meets Black Aria vibes of instrumental opener \u201cThe Fires of Seduction,\u201d lie the equally moody atmospheres of mid-album interlude \u201cAngelic Vortex,\u201d which serves as a portal, ushering listeners from Lamp of Murmuur\u2019s past into what The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy represents for the project\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy by Lamp Of Murmuur<\/a><\/p>\n

Three-part title track, \u201cThe Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy,\u201d is the album highlight. Without jettisoning its black metal roots, Lamp of Murmuur shrouds this triptych in a S\u00f3lstafiric, proggy haze of spacy, 70s-style rock guitar solos and cascading Phantom of the Operatic progressions (\u201cPart I \u2013 Moondance\u201d), melodic, soaring leads (\u201cPart II \u2013 Twilight Orgasm\u201d) and a romping, symphonic paganism (\u201cPart III \u2013 The Fall\u201d) reminiscent of early Old Man\u2019s Child. In addition, M.\u2019s broadening, clean vocals inject new-wave intensity into the non-harsh moments of \u201cMoondance,\u201d a Moroder & Bowie \u201cCat People (Putting Out the Fire)\u201d feel into the latter croons of \u201cTwilight Orgasm,\u201d and an effective, Cattle Decapitation-esque tonal rasp into \u201cThe Fall.\u201d I think I had as much fun diving in and out of the waters of this stretch of TDPiE as our beloved sharkster had ingesting the whole of Saturnian Bloodstorm.<\/p>\n

\"\"As often as dichotomy spearheads musical diversity, however, it can also foster unintended inconsistency, and in the court of The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy\u2019s case, the latter unfortunately testifies loudest. As many moments of greatness exist on both halves of TDPiE\u2019s whole, so too do some missteps. M.\u2019s first instance of cleans, for example, at the end of \u201cHategate (The Dream-Master\u2019s Realm)\u201d sound out of tune and pulled me from an otherwise enjoyable listen during every spin. In addition, \u201cPart I \u2013 Moondance\u201d contains some awkwardly off-key musical transitions, and at times, the staccato, machine-gun riffage in \u201cPart III \u2013 The Fall\u201d feels out of sync with the drumming. And as much as I enjoyed the acoustically well-executed and clean-sung \u201cA Brute Angel\u2019s Sorrow,\u201d its off-putting, last-batter-in-the-lineup positioning completely saps the majesty from the silence left in the wake of \u201cPart III \u2013 The Fall\u201d\u2018s last powerful chord.<\/p>\n

A tenet often adhered to despite its obtusity is that broadened popularity for a band that launched its career from the darkened shadows of the kvlt black metal world usually leads to its death or disownment. In the case of Lamp of Murmuur, a forerunner of the current USBM scene, opinions may vary. As it stands, The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy is a full-length that, if released as a pair of EPs, might have transcended its holistic inconsistencies. I\u2019ve grown past the distaste I felt on initial listens to appreciate both sides of what Lamp of Murmuur has done here and look forward to M.\u2019s continued growth, as should you.<\/p>\n

Rating: 3.0\/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Wolves of Hades<\/a>
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: November 14th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"L.A.-based M., the mastermind behind Lamp of Murmuur, has been busy this year. In addition to releasing two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2325,6446,6447,28214,96,29433,108017,108018,108019,128,103716,108020,263,98437,108021,56,54,55,108022,108023],"class_list":["post-261466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-2325","tag-3-0","tag-american-metal","tag-black-metal","tag-entertainment","tag-gothic-metal","tag-immortal","tag-kekht-arakh","tag-lamp-of-murmuur","tag-music","tag-nov25","tag-old-mans-child","tag-review","tag-solstafir","tag-the-dreaming-prince-in-ecstasy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-usbm","tag-wolves-of-hades-records"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}