Brutality and darkness are two terms that are often mentioned when talking about Metal music. Ever since the inception of the genre in the early 70s with the rise of Black Sabbath, musicians have been pushing the boundaries more and more, trying to come up with new ways to challenge normal conventions and offer great music at the same time.

This is why we often see the likes of King Diamond, Celtic Frost or Immortal with a very over the top feel to it, striving to not only impact people with their music but also with the visual elements and that’s something LUNA13 has become such an infamous band these days: because they have been pushing the boundaries more and more.

Much has been said about Black/Bass/Metal band LUNA13 throughout the years and that is mostly because they not only offer an intense and dark brand of music but also because they have a very controversial and shocking live performance that has become synonymous with the band.

LUNA13 is not afraid of dealing with the occult, Satanism, the darkest depths of human nature and also with different stories in recent decades that have shown the worst sides of humanity, entwining in music that is both savage and elegant.

One example of LUNA13’s desire for always pushing the boundaries and going well beyond political correctness is the making of their 2015 album, Hollywood Ripper. The album was not only named after a serial killer that lived near the house of Dr. Luna, founder of the band but also recorded the album in the famous hotel “The Cecil” the home for the night stalker Richard Ramirez, further proving the band’s preference with the darkest elements of humanity. The song Elisa Lam was recorded in her room at “The Cecil” hotel as well. “The Cecil” is well known for hosting Los Angeles’s most gruesome stories.

Of course, this is something that is not only exclusive to the band’s visuals or aesthetics, but it also plays a certain role in their music and the way it’s done. For example, one of their more unknown songs, pre-Lilith Bathory, Dreaming of the Night, has the recorded track of a young woman that died in a car accident in Mexico–the track itself was recorded that same night when she was in the studio with her Goth band. Dr. Luna asked permission to use her vocal track and the band agreed.

There is also no secret that LUNA13 is a band that is not fond of organized religion and they have proven that point with songs such as Possession of Emily Rose and Saint Mary Possession, which has actual recorded tracks of possessions that were held by the Vatican many years ago and still are the subject of controversy in a lot of circles. This band is not only about music or sticking it to the system, but also about showing those uncomfortable truths that are important to see and understand in this world.

The band’s house is called The Vault and is next to Jim Morrison’s place in Laurel Canyon. Their home is filled with bones and the dark arts are a practice that is very common to find there if you actually manage to pay a visit to them.

It’s also very important to point out that LUNA13’s relevance, infamy, and controversy transcends the United States, with India being one of the nations with the highest amounts of outrage with this particular band.

This was due to a very specific situation that involved them making a release that was named Rakshasi (female demon from Sanskrit), and the band had hymns of Hindu witchcraft and invocations to Kali and many other demons that are part of Hindu culture, which led to the outrage and criticism from Indian media to banning their tracks from numerous radio stations in India… but as we all know, any publicity can be good publicity.

Things started to escalate when they found out that the opening track in that album is dedicated to known Hindu serial killer Thug Behram and this resulted in the band getting a lot of mainstream attention in what was a more conservative country in terms of musical tendencies, but this is something that made a huge impact in the band’s trajectory and to this day they are still attention in that country.

And even then, things started to get even more intense when vocalist Lilith joined the band and she has proven to be one of the bolder, braver and downright decadent vocalists in the history of dark music-even going as far as doing a satanic ritual live which got them to shut down in Vegas. Dark Ritual is apart of their image. 

Overall, LUNA13 defines the most extreme aspects of dark music and they are poised to gain a lot more notoriety throughout the years, so we have to keep an eye on how this band is going to grow in the near future. Ghosts, Satanism, Witches and serial killers are just a part of this band's image and I am so happy these guys are for real as opposed to others out there using satanism for attention, LUNA13 is your real goto for the dark stuff! Www.luna13.net @luna13official