Band: Dark Suns
Album: Orange
Label: Prophecy productions
Releaase date: 25.11. 2011
Genre: Progressive metal

Dark Suns are a progressive metal band that hail from Germany. Their first two releases contained, among other things, vocals typically found within a heavy death metal band.

These screaming and harsh vocals were dropped for their third release, opening up for them a new musical avenue , and doing far better justice to the word “progressive”

“Orange” has a fantastic opener. Blasting to the fore in all its eccentric glory, one cannot help but bounce and bop along to this fast pace and rather exciting song. The vocals are simple and smooth. The time signatures are all over the place, like alphabet soup and the need for speed means that the slower parts are more appreciated when they appear.

It is the classic Beethoven trick which I noticed straight away; Grab the audience with something intriguing, slow it down for a breather, and then rip roar back to life, like a car gunning it’s engine, jolting the audience back to life.

This album demands to be heard.

The album continues eclectically, illuminating the talent of the band members with some very impressive piano melodies and some surprising and technical guitar parts. With the obvious presence of a massive Jazz influence, it’s hard not to be reminded of Ephel Duath’s “The Painter’s Palate” With it’s strange, unique vocals blending almost comically with the buzzing madness of the songs. And it’s nice to hear the wonderful presence of an electric organ, dazzling in the background of their music, an enjoyable addition the ever confusing mêlée of this album.

It is a rather exhausting listen, so I was rather taken a back at track 5 “not enough fingers”. Fitting for the rapid succession of this album, not for the song to which this title was attributed.

This track was an instrumental and had come as a clear and direct influence straight from their musical roots which are steeped in the darkness of doom and death metal.

Fans of Dark Suns from the beginning may struggle to enjoy this altogether completely different album. They sound like a total other band. In places this album does feel rushed, more blurt than burst, and sometimes overwhelming with their desire to try and fit as many different instruments as possible into each song. I personally enjoyed it, but others may not.

Their was some eerie slide guitar too, which made me almost miss the doom vocals that have been dropped.

About half way through, or to be more specific, track 7 got a little out of hand vocal wise but by the time I got to “scaleman” Dark Suns were back in their element. The song was driven by powerful and pounding drums, and my ears spied a rather strange percussive instrument muscling its way in at the beginning. With harmonious dream-like vocals, and a spacey glissando of a Glockenspiel, this had a very 60′s film score feel.

This album ranges from very sombre and soothing to the dizzying highs of free fall jazz, and back down again with the melancholic face of their doom influences  raising its head here and there, creating a significant change of pitch and tempo.

Conclusion.
Their is great talent in the complexity, and some of the songs do drag you, the brave listener, along to their epic climax, and sometimes you find yourself jiving along gladly!

Rating:  7/10

For fans of: Miosis, Novembre and Ephel Duath

Track list:
1. toy
2. eight quiet minutes
3. elephant
4. diamond
5. not enough fingers
6. ghost
7. that is why they all hate you in hell
8. vespertine
9. scaleman
10. antipole
11. the devil fingers peace