You can support Terra Relicta by donating! Please, do so, and thank you!
Band: Sun Devoured Earth
Album title: Sounds Of Desolation
Release date: 4 July 2012
Label: Self-Released
Tracklisting:
01. The Past
02. Not Meant
03. Esuna, Curaga
04. The Martyr
05. Shut In
06. Benbarhahetojuka
07. Loser
08. And We Disappear
09. Chorus Of Passing
10. Anxiety
11. To Abandon
12. The Future
Sun Devoured Earth had it's year of over productivity last year while releasing tons of music, as it be albums, EP's, splits and so on. This is the second release from the band this year, after a split album with British ambient black metal act Wounder. If you are not familiar with this Latvian one man band and you like melancholic atmospheric music then you are missing a lot. Sun Devoured Earth offers one of the most intriguing examples of how to make melancholic music that touches your soul and helps you explore dark hidden corners of your own existence. The name of the artist behind the Sun Devoured Earth is Vadim Vasilyev. He started with Sun Devoured Earth in 2009, with more ambient black metal oriented kind of sounds, but release after release he's approaching to his own mix of shoegaze, ambient, gothic rock, depressive black metal, dream pop and yet you could find something more.
As soon as we dive into Sounds Of Desolation, there's evident progress since his last output. In it's basis this is a rock album, because it's based on the rhytmic sections, guitar melodies, drumbeats that could be classified as one, but it's calm, gentle, almost romantic and captivating. Dreamy keyboards, seductive vocal interpretation that doesn't stand out, sometimes slow doomy pace in "Loser" or picturesque, gloomy atmospheres of "Anxiety" are the things that should take you with the flow of Sounds Of Desolation. A lot of piano touches, The Cure kind of melancholic guitar play, a lot of overall reverb, especially in vocals should bring tears of joy in the eyes of every devoted fan of romantic side of gothic music. The guitars in "The Martyr", "Benbarhahetojuka",... are giving a lot of memories to albums like Bloodflowers or Disintegration from before mentioned The Cure, although the vibe is more similar to what Alcest and the likes are doing lately, with a touch of integrated atmospheres and elements that could be found also within bands such as Cocteau Twins, Joy Division and even Pink Floyd. But, don't be misguided by the names I mentioned, because Sun Devoured Earth is stylistically quite away from those artists and at the same time breathes with them. Folk harmonica on "Not Meant" is a nice nostalgic surprise, giving some warmth at the very beginning, "Chorus Of Passing" builds slowly with delicate piano, amazing, slightly distorted guitar and gloomy vocals make this track the most provocative and picturesque up here. Post-punk bass line in "To Abandon" shows the unlimited creativity of the author. Yet, there's a black metal base to be discovered in before mentioned "To Abandon" and in ghastly dark "Shut In". There's a sample from the movie "The Man Who Wasn't There" directed by Coen brothers in 2001 heard at the beginning of "Anxiety". The pace is slow, sounds are dark, production is not to clean and it's right this way for the witnessed music. The palete of sounds that are put so well together make this release one of the best from this band till now and one of the most intriguing in the, let's say, post-rock, ambient, gothic, shoegaze,... fields lately. Though this album does not scream from it's originality, still offers an amazing sonic experience.
Sounds Of Desolation is a compact piece of twelwe atmospheric and dark tracks that are flowing nicely, without unnecessary experiments is giving to devoted listener a fantastic musical journey into mysterius dark world that Vadim Vasilyev is crafting for us. Why don't discover this piece of magnificient music, as it's available as "name your price" download from bandcamp. Recommended!
Review written by: T.V.
Rating: 8,5/10
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
