Review by Allan on May 30, 2003.

Within the first few minutes of my first listen to Lost Soul's latest album "Ubermensch," I knew that these guys were from Poland. Lost Soul's death metal has that identifiable Polish sound that is impossible not to notice. Now there are two ways I could look at this. The first would be that it's unfortunate that Lost Soul has taken the path that other Polish bands have taken. The other way to view things, is that Lost Soul have put together what sounds to me like one of the best death metal bands out of Poland, second to Vader.

Last year Vader put out "Revelations." While that album was very good in its own respect, it happened to receive not so much playtime from me as it wore on. Hopefully the best days of Vader are not behind them. However, Lost Soul is here to pick up the slack while Vader is on break. That's not to say Lost Soul is a Vader clone. They're not, but one can't say there isn't a string of similarities that binds them together. It must be something in the water over there in Poland. Anyway, "Ubermensch" might be one of the best death metal releases I've heard all year, one of the others being Melechesh's latest black/death album, "Sphynx," which just happens to be on the same label as Lost Soul, Osmose Productions.

"Ubermensch" is one intense record. Through the twelve songs, the only breaks you'll receive are the occasional ambient transitions between songs. Other than that, you're on your own as you walk the path before Lost Soul. There are essentially four parts to Lost Soul that you need know at this point: riffs, melody, keyboards, and solos. The riffs are those thick, heavy, abrasive ones with the occasional tremolo picking and they change direction constantly. However, Lost Soul isn't the type of band that thinks it's not cool to throw in some melody. You'll find the occasional melodies that show up, and of course the keyboards play into that. They're in the background, so it's not like a cheesy keyboard melody is going to pop in out of nowhere. Instead, they're there to color the songs, and they serve their purpose well. And of course, what would death metal from Poland be without those crazy, intense, shred solos that start and end out of nowhere. Lost Soul does it better than most others, though.

Bottom Line: If you want to see what good death metal sounds like in 2003, check out Lost Soul and their latest, "Ubermensch."

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 8
Originality: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 7.5 out of 10