SaintSombre - Earth/Dust

SaintSombre are a fresh band out of France under the sole member Steve R. who delivers all the vocals, riffs, drumming, and samples. Considered a mix of Sludge and Post Metal/ Rock, SaintSombre avoids the usual abrasive atmosphere that Post Metal bands like Grown Below or Cult of Luna go for or the clean Djent driven one like Spiritbox, but rather ends up somewhere in the middle for a pretty ‘comfortable’ listen, which is a bit of an oxymoron because usually in Sludge or Post epic levels of distortion are heaped in as the genres both tend to border Funeral Doom quality weight. “Earth/Dust” while sounding like a heavy album is actually packed with a lot of ‘fluff,’ thanks to the electronic samples. Much like Godflesh and current Ministry, the near EDM touches from Steve amongst his bellows and riffs like on the opening track ‘Reflection’ bring a sort of almost Synthwave quality to the music which takes off the harsher edge and makes this style of Post Sludge more accessible. Other times they sometimes sound random like on the title track and don’t quite go with the flow.

One thing that SaintSombre has going for them is groove. Very hypnotic and despite repetition, it is very catchy such as on a track like ‘Spectre’ or ‘Sun’ that one can’t help but bob their head to it, and the electronics adding in also seem to flow quite smoothly with the Rock elements. Of course, Steve avoids anything close to the ‘mainstream rock’ touches and gets as close to possibly Crowbar when it comes to ‘radio friendly sludge.’ His harsh shouts keep with the abrasive tones but are still discernible and don’t make listeners wince, and the drums are thick and crushing to add in the weighty moments. As the album progresses though listeners will find the Industrial elements start to separate from the rest of the music rather than flow, serving as intros or outros to the rest of the music such as on ‘Deliverance.’ While on a track like this it shows SaintSombre at its most melodic and almost proggy, delving nearly into Opeth territory, it doesn’t have that silky flow that some of the earlier tracks hold when it all comes together.

‘Fall’ is one of the better tracks where the electronics work will with the riffs, subtly supporting them like a strong Project Hate track so the focus is on the guitars and vocals, but not being dwarfed and still adding in a good layer of depth to make the music interesting and less of a basic Sludge approach. While many of the tracks are long and somewhat repetitive as Steve aims for the basic structure of keeping his style of Sludge and Post all about vocals and riffs that tend to lumber at the same pace for quite some time, not quite turning into Groove Metal pit starters or anything that one can really get their foot going to like a good Melodeath or Thrash introduction, overall “Earth/Dust” is a cut above the more well known ‘basic’ bands out there simply for added Industrial elements. While Ministry might add too many samples or Cult of Luna might carry on a bit more than it should with its epics, SaintSombre has just the right length and additions that it doesn’t quite make anyone fall asleep or want to skip any tracks fully. It might take a listen or two of each one to really get into what the band is trying to do, but it is worth the listen to appreciate the doomy heaviness from Steve.

3.5 / 5 STARS




1. Reflection
2. Spectre
3. Circle
4. Earth/Dust
5. Sun
6. Deliverance
7. Fall


Rotten Tree Productions
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Jan 22, 2025
Next review: Asgrauw - Oorsprong

Share this: