Mariner
Digital download artwork for Mariner[lower-alpha 1]
Studio album by
Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas
ReleasedApril 8, 2016 (2016-04-08)
StudioStudio Hufvudstaden (Söderköping, Sweden)
Tonteknik Recording (Umeå, Sweden)
Translator Audio & Loho Studios
(New York City, U.S.)
GenrePost-metal, sludge metal, doom metal[1]
Length54:34
LabelIndie
ProducerKristian Karlsson, Magnus Líndberg, Andrew Schneider
Cult of Luna chronology
Vertikal
(2013)		 Mariner
(2016)		 A Dawn to Fear
(2019)
Julie Christmas chronology
Coextinction Records 5
(2011)		 Mariner
(2016)

Mariner is a collaborative studio album between the Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna and the American vocalist Julie Christmas, formerly of the bands Made Out of Babies and Battle of Mice. Serving as Cult of Luna's seventh studio album and the first time Christmas has appeared on the entirety of a full-length album since her 2010 solo debut The Bad Wife, Mariner was released on April 8, 2016 through Indie Recordings.[2] Contrasting the industrial city themes of Cult of Luna's last studio efforts, Vertikal and Vertikal II from 2013, Mariner focuses its concept on space exploration.

Background, writing and recording

Both Julie Christmas and the members of Cult of Luna had a mutual respect and appreciation for each other's music prior to working together on Mariner.[3][4] Though Christmas reached out earlier,[3] the two parties began communicating about a collaboration more seriously when Cult of Luna curated the May 2014 festival Beyond the Redshift in London.[4][5] Cult of Luna wanted Christmas to participate and perform her solo album The Bad Wife. The performance didn't work out but both parties kept in touch after the festival. Guitarist Johannes Persson sent Christmas a demo track the band was working on at the time and asked her to write lyrics and record vocals. Impressed with the result, Cult of Luna asked Christmas if she would be interested in creating a full album.[3] Persson recalled what initially drew him to Christmas in the first place, stating: "I just love Julie's singing. She can go from the softest melodies to the wildest screams, and everything in between. The range of her voice is incredible."[4]

Mariner was written and recorded over the course of about a year.[4] Cult of Luna worked on the instrumental portions in a studio near their hometown of Umeå and digitally sent Christmas demos and tracks. Working with producer Andrew Schneider at his own studio in Coney Island in New York City, she wrote lyrics, recorded vocals and sent them back to Cult of Luna in Sweden.[4] After telling Christmas the thematic and musical direction Cult of Luna was aiming for with Mariner, the band gave her full creative control to write and perform how she best saw fit.[4] Christmas said the experience of working with Cult of Luna was "excellent" and elaborated: "Those guys are great to work with personally, because they have a sense of humor, and they're all super talented but regular, normal people who are just trying to do something that they believe in."[3] Since the album was created largely through online file sharing, Christmas didn't even meet any of the members of Cult of Luna in person until September 2015 when Mariner was roughly halfway completed and the band was doing a small U.S. tour.[4]

Acknowledging that the band's previous album themes went from rural (on 2006's Somewhere Along the Highway) to a fictional story about a mental patient's diary (on 2008's Eternal Kingdom) to urban and industrial (on 2013's Vertikal), Cult of Luna made a conscious effort to focus their attention on themes of space exploration.[4] From Mariner's official announcement:

"At the end of Vertikal, we stood in the cold harshness of the mechanical city and looked up onto the stars. We lost ourselves in the awe of their grace and thought that 'maybe the answer is to be found above.' The ship was leaking and by the look of it, our home was dying. No room for fear when a greater call demands your full attention. So, we left... Onward, forward. Like the old seafarers, we explored the vastness of space. Not bound by physical laws we pass the speed of light and chase the expansion of space until we reach its limit. And then, we continued on and disappeared. This is our story."[6]

The "Star Gate" sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey served as inspiration for the album's closing track, "Cygnus."

Persson describes Mariner's concept as "a journey into the unknown."[4] That journey comes to a conclusion at the end of the album's final track, "Cygnus," which was heavily inspired by the "Star Gate" sequence from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Persson elaborated on the theme and story behind the final moments of the album, stating: "What we were trying to put across in those last few minutes was the sound of us penetrating the outer-outer limits of space. [...] It's how we imagine it would be to cross that final limit of the universe. Then we continue on into darkness and disappear."[4]

Promotion

Coinciding with the album's official announcement, Cult of Luna began promoting Mariner in February 2016 with an online stream of the opening track, "A Greater Call".[2] In March 2016, Cult of Luna released "The Wreck of S.S. Needle" for online streaming.[7] Coinciding with the album's first tour announcement in June 2016, the band released a music video for "Chevron" directed by Spanish filmmaker Javier Longobardo, who was requested to "create a journey through unknown worlds with continuous momentum."[8]

At the time of Mariner's release, there were no scheduled tour dates in direct support of the album as a collaborative unit. Cult of Luna has stated that there will not be a full tour, however the band hoped to schedule a few select festival appearances for 2016. Persson commented on the difficulties getting a tour together, stating: "It's hard enough to get six, seven people in their mid- to late-30s with kids and jobs to be able to go and tour in the first place. Add in somebody from another continent and it's an equation that is very difficult to solve."[4] In November 2016, seven months after the album's release, Cult of Luna will embark on a five-date European tour in support of Mariner and perform it in its entirety.[9]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Consequence of SoundC+[10]
Metal Hammer[11]
Metal Injection10/10[12]
MetalSucks[13]
Rock Hard8.5/10[14]

Upon release, Mariner was met with critical acclaim from music critics.

Rolling Stone named Mariner the 9th best metal album of 2016.[15] Terrorizer listed the album at No. 8 on its year-end list.[16]

In 2019, MetalSucks compiled a list of the best metal albums between 2010-2019, polling 180 musicians, managers, publicists, label representatives and writers, where Mariner was ranked the 25th best album of the decade.[17]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."A Greater Call"8:19
2."Chevron"8:53
3."The Wreck of S.S. Needle"9:33
4."Approaching Transition"12:59
5."Cygnus"14:50
Total length:54:34

Vinyl bonus track

No.TitleLength
6."Beyond the Redshift"11:43
Total length:66:17

Personnel

Mariner personnel adapted from CD liner notes.[18]

Band

  • Julie Christmas – vocals
  • Thomas Hedlund – drum kit
  • Andreas Johansson – bass guitar
  • Kristian Karlsson – keyboards
  • Fredrik Kihlberg – guitar, vocals
  • Magnus Líndberg – percussion
  • Johannes Persson – guitar, vocals

Production

  • Magnus Líndberg – drums and bass recording at Tonteknik Recording, mixing and mastering at Redmount Studios
  • Kristian Karlsson – additional recording at Studio Hufvudstaden
  • Andrew Schneider – recording and engineering of Julie Christmas' vocals at Translator Audio and Loho Studios

Artwork

  • Erik Olofsson – design

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 193
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[20] 29
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[21] 28
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 76

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Special editions of Mariner received different colored covers (green, blue, red or yellow) and also had the "shine" at a different angle (horizontal, vertical or diagonal). Green with a vertical "shine", the standard-edition colorway, is shown above.
Citations
  1. ↑ Poscic, Antonio (September 30, 2019). "MetalMatters: September 2019 - Back to the Grind". PopMatters. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Bienstock, Richard (February 11, 2016). "Cult of Luna Premiere New Song, 'A Greater Call'". Revolver. NewBay Media. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Dick, Jonathan (April 6, 2016). "Julie Christmas Gets Real About Gender, Big Sticks, and Working With Cult of Luna". Noisey. Vice. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Bienstock, Richard (March 29, 2016). "How a Swedish Metal Band and Brooklyn Singer Made a Heady Masterpiece". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  5. ↑ Franquelli, Alex (June 3, 2014). "Cult of Luna (Beyond the Redshift): 10 May 2014 – London". PopMatters. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  6. ↑ Rosenburg, Axl (February 1, 2016). "Mariner: Cult of Luna Announce New Album with Julie Christmas (Ex-Made Out of Babies)". MetalSucks. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
  7. ↑ Moore, Doug (March 24, 2016). "Cult Of Luna & Julie Christmas – 'The Wreck Of S.S. Needle' (Stereogum Premiere)". Stereogum. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
  8. ↑ Metal Hammer Staff (June 29, 2016). "Cult Of Luna and Julie Christmas stream Chevron video". Metal Hammer. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
  9. ↑ Rosenburg, Axl (June 22, 2016). "Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas to Tour Europe". MetalSucks. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  10. ↑ Hadusek, Jon (April 12, 2016). "Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas – Mariner". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  11. ↑ Rudoletzky, Marce (April 8, 2016). "Cult Of Luna & Julie Christmas – Mariner". Metal Hammer (in German). Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  12. ↑ Bacon, Matt (April 18, 2016). "Album Review: Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas Mariner". Metal Injection. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  13. ↑ Vidal, Gore (April 8, 2016). "Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas' Mariner: Mood, Atmosphere, and Metal". MetalSucks. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  14. ↑ Hennequin, emmanuel (June 2016). "My album of the month by Emmanuel Hennequin | Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas – Mariner". Rock Hard (in French). No. 166. Paris: Holger Stratmann. p. 90. ISSN 1630-8204.
  15. ↑ "20 Best Metal Albums of 2016". Rolling Stone. 9 December 2016.
  16. ↑ "Terrorizer 50 Albums of the Year".
  17. ↑ Rosenberg, Axl (September 10, 2019). "The 25 Best Metal Albums of 2010 – 2019, #25: Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas, Mariner". MetalSucks.
  18. ↑ Mariner (CD liner notes). Cult of Luna. Oslo, Norway: Indie Recordings. 2016. INDIE168CDL.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  19. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas – Mariner" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Cult of Luna: Mariner" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas – Mariner". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Cult of Luna & Christmas – Mariner". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
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