French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once said that “Hell is other people.” Now Finnish metal band LOST SOCIETY come to challenge that maxim through the title of their upcoming album, “Hell Is a State of Mind.” Personally, I agree with both, but let’s not digress from the matter at hand. And that is the fact that the new album from LOST SOCIETY, “Hell Is a State of Mind,” will be out on March 6th, 2026, via Nuclear Blast.
Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of this album, let’s get a few things straight. First of all, those of you who still pine after the band’s thrash metal days, this is not the album for you, so move it along. Secondly, going into this album with preconceived ideas like “this is not metal” or “this is too emo” won’t help, as you will only reinforce those particular ideas in your head. Thirdly, the band is still on a journey of discovery when it comes to their new sound, and this album highlights this search through its diversity of sound and contradictory musical details. Therefore, what LOST SOCIETY is trying to do here is claim a niche that would be “unrestrained, unmistakable, and unapologetically their own” (to quote from the press release).
However, what this album lacks is not conviction or confidence in what it offers, but cohesion and consistency as the songs pull in too many different directions without a solid soundscape to bring all the conflicting ideas together. I do believe this is already apparent from the singles released so far, from the groovy, Rob Zombie-esque “Dead People Scare Me (But the Living Make Me Sick),” to the modern-meets-orchestral mash-up “Blood Diamond,” all the way to the somewhat emotional “Is This What You Wanted” with its strings and cinematic feel, these are three distinct songs with equally distinct vibes. That’s not to say that it’s all bad, because there are many parts that work, and many songs that are pretty good; it’s just that not everything flows well together, and at times the disconnect is more than a bit jarring.
Onto the good stuff – the orchestral elements add a freshness to the sound and give the songs a rich texture, while also adding to the emotional weight of the lyrics. It may be a bit of a challenge to reconcile the rawness of heavy metal with the drama and theatrical nature of strings in a context that is not symphonic metal or even power metal, but LOST SOCIETY went all in with this idea the result is as crazy and unpredictable as expected. Opening tracks, “Afterlife” and “Blood Diamond,” are a (mostly) successful mix of modern metal and orchestral grandeur that soar high on catchy chorus sections, sharp riffs, and a back-and-forth between cleans and screams from Samy Elbana. Later album tracks “Kill the Lights” and “No Longer Human” also follow this formula, being rather heavy affairs with powerful drum patterns and sharp orchestral accents that pierce through the haze of the guitars and bass. The title track and closing number, “Hell Is a State of Mind,” truly commits to the bit by integrating the orchestral elements more fully into the song’s sound design, ebbing and flowing through mellow, orchestral sections and more intense, guitar-driven ones.
On the other hand, what the fuck is “Synthetic” and why is it placed third in the tracklist? For something that is such a whirlwind of so many things crammed together to be anything but dissonant and jarring, it utterly disrupts the flow of the album, and it takes a while for it to get back on track after derailing so frantically. Halloween anthem“Dead People Scare Me (But the Living Make Me Sick)” is another one that doesn’t fit with the otherwise carefully planned and executed sound design of the album, seeing as it leans a bit too much into its groovy, guitar-heavy rhythm and fast-paced vocal attack. Despite its cool title, “Personal Judas” is another experiment gone wrong that ended up on this album to further clutter it with all types of electronics and distorted guitar sounds.
All-in-all, “Hell Is a State of Mind” is a veritable Frankenstein’s monster in sonic form with some parts that work pretty well, others that really don’t blend together with the rest, and some others that really don’t belong in this mixture, which makes the end result feel rather rough around the edges. Moreover, the album does boast some good ideas, but more often than not, their execution is lacking finesse. All this results in an album that is uneven and inconsistent despite the orchestral and metal elements grounding most of the songs. I appreciate the fact that LOST SOCIETY are trying to carve their own niche, like many bands have done before, but they need a more consistent approach to the songwriting and a firmer grasp on their modern metal sound for everything to click into place.
Written by Andrea Crow
Tracklist
1. Afterlife
2. Blood Diamond
3. Synthetic
4. Is This What You Wanted
5. L’appel du Vide
6. Kill The Light
7. No Longer Human
8. Dead People Scare Me (But The Living Make Me Sick)
9. Personal Judas
10. Hell is A State of Mind
Lineup
- Samy Elbanna – vocals, guitars
- Arttu Lesonen – guitars
- Mirko Lehtinen – bass
- Tapani Fagerström – drummer
Label
Nuclear Blast
