Second To Sun - Legacy
Second To Sun come from Russia and they have been active since 2011. "Legacy" is their 7th full length album. In the cover artwork there are dark demon shadows in a summoning. The cover looks like images on ancient vases. What could make a more accurate title for the album's opening track than 'Devil'? The song begins with a ritual intro which creates a hellish and fiery atmosphere. The coming riffs and screams cataclysmic as they are, they bring forth the old school black metal feeling, but at the same time the grooves and the synth breaks which at times become epic give the song a post black character. The vocals are heavily distorted and sound like a mixture of industrial/noisecore and raw black metal. Rather sick!
'Confessional Of The Black Penitent' features another unique orchestration with djent guitar themes, raw black metal vocals, noise passages and weird grooves. All riffs and sounds are as if coming straight from hell. The melodic guitar passages don't fool me. Pitched chords and disharmonic melodies are soon to follow in a bleak environment that surrounds you.
'Pages For A Manuscript' is an over 10 minutes epic where again raw black metal riffs are used in a weird sequence and mix until they are lost into noise and at that very moment they are allowed by the band to breathe just for a few seconds with a clean guitar melody just to dive back in hell again the very next moment. The melodies used are of utter beauty but remain hauntingly dark. The drums are fast for the biggest part of the song and with their discipline are the key element for the accuracy of the song. Wherever riffs are used, they are always ultra heavy buzz-saw distorted with just few slices of clean open chord melodies here and there.
'Monster' begins with some modern metal ideas only to turn to a sick experiment of majestic black metal with djent breaks, ritualistic noises, whispers and a completetly psychotic mood that can drive you straight to the asylum. For unknown reasons I love it and so will the more open-minded listeners of you. When the riff reaches a break and begins to slam, I somehow feel I needed it to break out. The synths which follow calm me down, but only for a moment. 'Monster' is a colossus of twisted in the mind sick music. It actually feels like listening to 5-6 songs playing together from equal systems, but it still sounds tight and perfect!
'No Need To Be Afraid Now' starts with Russian spoken word. A post hardcore riff and an industrial synth serve as the passage to the following black metal holocaust. I am glad Second To Sun use extremely nice, warm and fragile melodies to glue their zillion different song parts. The next riff is black/thrash and very claustrophobic and stressful. The distorted backing vocals sound as if coming from the depths of hell. Nice melodic guitar themes make the song more understandable. Everything is so drowned in noise and distortion that you actively seek for such moments of clarity.
'Once Upon A Time In Russia' sounds like an unholy mixture of Bal Sagoth with Emperor and Celtic Frost of "Into The Pandemonium". The toy melody used sounds to me ironic and so do the background screams. The vibe of the song is utterly sick. The orchestral parts that follow are majestic and melancholic. It's music parts like these which make me thankful for the gift of music. The use of the instruments is not typical for Second To Sun. They seem to have their own coding and decoding for music. I would love to know how the hell did they record, mix and produce this sick album! The drums are an essential part of what's happening here and I need to congratulate the drummer because without his contribution to the album this could easily sound flaw. At the last moments of the song, vocals from hell leave the listener to dance with the devil. A top class song and a standout moment of the album!
'Raida' is another surprising song. Emotional and dark, it mixes the rawness of early Bathory with the post black metal of Deafheaven and the post hardcore/noise rock of Unsane in a sick mix. I have to congratulate again the band for their decision to use live drums which can be heard and is an asset for their music and of course a wise choice. The lead guitar part is melodic in a northern way fetching a Scandinavian Black Metal air to the song while the background orchestration sounds somewhere between folk and classical music reminding me of my beloved Empyrium and of the great Russian classical music heritage.
'Me Or Him' and 'Virgo Mitt' are older songs re-recorded in 2020 versions and serve as 2 nice bonus tracks. 'Virgo Mitt' sounded to me a bit closer to the "Legacy" album. The album is also released in an instrumental edition, which marks another original decision of the band.
Second To Sun achieve to stand out of the crowd and that's for sure a huge victory! Their music is a post black metal own hybrid mixed with such styles as raw black metal, industrial, noisecore, djent and post hardcore. It is mostly atonal and disharmonic and features some excellent and elegant hidden melodies. While listening to the album, I sometimes felt like listening to the same song many times within the same song. Maybe they use fragments of their recordings as layers over layers within their songs. The album's production remains a mystery. Nevertheless, "Legacy" is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and clever album I came across over the last years. So 5 stars is well deserved.
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'Confessional Of The Black Penitent' features another unique orchestration with djent guitar themes, raw black metal vocals, noise passages and weird grooves. All riffs and sounds are as if coming straight from hell. The melodic guitar passages don't fool me. Pitched chords and disharmonic melodies are soon to follow in a bleak environment that surrounds you.
'Pages For A Manuscript' is an over 10 minutes epic where again raw black metal riffs are used in a weird sequence and mix until they are lost into noise and at that very moment they are allowed by the band to breathe just for a few seconds with a clean guitar melody just to dive back in hell again the very next moment. The melodies used are of utter beauty but remain hauntingly dark. The drums are fast for the biggest part of the song and with their discipline are the key element for the accuracy of the song. Wherever riffs are used, they are always ultra heavy buzz-saw distorted with just few slices of clean open chord melodies here and there.
'Monster' begins with some modern metal ideas only to turn to a sick experiment of majestic black metal with djent breaks, ritualistic noises, whispers and a completetly psychotic mood that can drive you straight to the asylum. For unknown reasons I love it and so will the more open-minded listeners of you. When the riff reaches a break and begins to slam, I somehow feel I needed it to break out. The synths which follow calm me down, but only for a moment. 'Monster' is a colossus of twisted in the mind sick music. It actually feels like listening to 5-6 songs playing together from equal systems, but it still sounds tight and perfect!
'No Need To Be Afraid Now' starts with Russian spoken word. A post hardcore riff and an industrial synth serve as the passage to the following black metal holocaust. I am glad Second To Sun use extremely nice, warm and fragile melodies to glue their zillion different song parts. The next riff is black/thrash and very claustrophobic and stressful. The distorted backing vocals sound as if coming from the depths of hell. Nice melodic guitar themes make the song more understandable. Everything is so drowned in noise and distortion that you actively seek for such moments of clarity.
'Once Upon A Time In Russia' sounds like an unholy mixture of Bal Sagoth with Emperor and Celtic Frost of "Into The Pandemonium". The toy melody used sounds to me ironic and so do the background screams. The vibe of the song is utterly sick. The orchestral parts that follow are majestic and melancholic. It's music parts like these which make me thankful for the gift of music. The use of the instruments is not typical for Second To Sun. They seem to have their own coding and decoding for music. I would love to know how the hell did they record, mix and produce this sick album! The drums are an essential part of what's happening here and I need to congratulate the drummer because without his contribution to the album this could easily sound flaw. At the last moments of the song, vocals from hell leave the listener to dance with the devil. A top class song and a standout moment of the album!
'Raida' is another surprising song. Emotional and dark, it mixes the rawness of early Bathory with the post black metal of Deafheaven and the post hardcore/noise rock of Unsane in a sick mix. I have to congratulate again the band for their decision to use live drums which can be heard and is an asset for their music and of course a wise choice. The lead guitar part is melodic in a northern way fetching a Scandinavian Black Metal air to the song while the background orchestration sounds somewhere between folk and classical music reminding me of my beloved Empyrium and of the great Russian classical music heritage.
'Me Or Him' and 'Virgo Mitt' are older songs re-recorded in 2020 versions and serve as 2 nice bonus tracks. 'Virgo Mitt' sounded to me a bit closer to the "Legacy" album. The album is also released in an instrumental edition, which marks another original decision of the band.
Second To Sun achieve to stand out of the crowd and that's for sure a huge victory! Their music is a post black metal own hybrid mixed with such styles as raw black metal, industrial, noisecore, djent and post hardcore. It is mostly atonal and disharmonic and features some excellent and elegant hidden melodies. While listening to the album, I sometimes felt like listening to the same song many times within the same song. Maybe they use fragments of their recordings as layers over layers within their songs. The album's production remains a mystery. Nevertheless, "Legacy" is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and clever album I came across over the last years. So 5 stars is well deserved.
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1. Devil
2. Confessional Of The Black Penitent
3. Pages For A Manuscript
4. Monster
5. No Need To Be Afraid Now
6. Once Upon A Time In Russia
7. Raida
8. Me Or Him 2020
9. Virgo Mitt 2020
2. Confessional Of The Black Penitent
3. Pages For A Manuscript
4. Monster
5. No Need To Be Afraid Now
6. Once Upon A Time In Russia
7. Raida
8. Me Or Him 2020
9. Virgo Mitt 2020
Self released
Reviewer: Manos Michaelides
Apr 6, 2020
Apr 6, 2020
Next review:
Cianide - Unhumanized
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