I've wanted to review this release for a WHILE, as it's been at least a month since it first premiered, so I figure it's time to mount the throne of productivity and tackle the one-woman project Luminesce's sophomore album, "Like Crushed Violets and Linen." Alice Simard is the mastermind behind this technical/progressive death metal entity, but Luminesce is only 1/32nd of her efforts. Yes, you saw that right-She's affiliated with thirty-two different projects, which range from slam death metal collectives to neoclassical shredfests. I'm not entirely sure how late is too late to review something, so I'd better stop blabbering about Alice's work and move on to actually listening to it.

"Silver," the opening track, wastes no time getting technical. The mixing is extremely drum-forward, leaving a claustrophobic amount of space for the neoclassically-inspired guitars. Chiptune synths make an unwarranted appearance, and while they're quirky, I'd rather stick to the technical death metal basics. "Exploited Monochromaticism" explores lovely lyrical themes, or so I think. I can't make out the meaning of any of the lyrics, but colorful buzzwords like "radiance" and "pearls" are aplenty. Alice delivers them in a nice guttural fashion. Technicality steps aside near the song's end for some progressive riffage, which I'll always eat up. "The Covenant of Counterfeit Stars" is the track where I can finally start to mentally annotate the lyrics and get somewhat of an idea of what's going on. It's quite a positive song, challenging the woe and gore of the genre's standards. I love the bass presence on the track, and every track, for that matter.

The vibes of beasts such as Necrophagist become even more prominent in "To Restore." I can truly hear the attempts "to restore" the mind-bending brutality of the late legends. The fusion licks and inhuman drumming are lovely to listen to. The title track offers a juxtaposition of calming piano and frantic blast beats, and "Like Crushed Violets and Linen" covers the most musical ground overall, as it is the longest song. The instrumental piece of the album, "Lamp of Fulguration," is as busy as ever and gets quite symphonic at times. "Nepethean" closes the album melodically and solidly, in the usual fashion for Luminesce.

I severely regret sleeping on this album for as long as I did. "Like Crushed Violets and Linen" is a great album for the intellectual metal fan who adores complexity in both music and lyrics, but also for the brutal dude who loves to mosh to some metal. Most every song here is a paean (at least in my eyes), and while the mixing has its flaws, mainly the drums' volume and other unimportant bullshit, I enjoyed the time I had with Luminesce.