1) Cult of Luna - The Long Road North
Disruption is a concept I keep hearing in various contexts working in the tech industry. I can't help but cringe when the word is wrapped in a well-tailored business suit. I've spent my life endlessly exploring and analyzing disruptive culture. The true disruption is to express something dangerous, frightening, unmarketable. Disruption should be felt in one's core, it should challenge you, change you, turn you into something different than what you were yesterday. An app can't be disruptive, a siloed cesspool of social media does not have the capacity to disrupt.
Cult of Luna does and I honestly don't know how it all works in the background. I can picture members of the band sitting in a room with a record company exec trying to describe this album.
"The Long Road North is about the inevitable reality that everyone lives and dies alone, spending a fair amount of time running from forces out of their control, falling in love and having it stripped away by more uncontrollable forces. The demise will come eventually but only after hallucinating an illusion of the past that never actually existed, simply a final comfort in their final moments."
"Green light my boys! Here's your money!"
While I'm sure Metal Blade is taking care of this incredible band, I can't imagine this was a very successful album in context of the music marketing machine. This is due to the fact that it is disruptive, it's full of uncomfortable feelings, dissonance, aggression, and submission that to a broader audience is too hard to swallow. When the masses want their music sugar coated with new flings and fun nights, there is no place for Cult of Luna. The band's commitment to their vision given the unlikely outcome of success is why I love them, why I'll always be a loyal fan.
