SIDEREAN “Lost on Void’s Horizon”
By Dr. Abner Mality
There is definitely a subgenre of metal that can be called “sci-fi metal”. There’s not only a lyrical theme to it, but a kind of sound as well, with technical riffs, dissonant and “cosmic” sounds and odd time structures. VOI VOD is for sure a pioneer of this brainy little corner of the metal cosmos, but there are other bands in the same space/time continuum like VEKTOR, KHTONIIK CERVIIKS, MITHRAS...and now, SIDEREAN.
These space cadets are not entirely a new proposition. They used to be known as TELEPORT, who did a pretty impressive album called “The Expansion” a few years back. Not sure what impulse led them to rename their band, as SIDEREAN has many of the same characteristics as TELEPORT. Well, maybe not quite, because SIDEREAN seems even more into the ozone here. The tunes are rooted in technical death metal, but are more drifting and expansive, with more of an emphasis on droning, spacy guitar sounds and quirky angular riffs. There’s some neck-wrecking moments and the vocals are the usual hoarse bellows, but things are mighty trippy in the SIDEREAN sector of the galaxy and it’s not unusual for synths to pop up to add additional weirdness.
It’s a sound that interests me, but maybe is just a bit too much off the metal beam to totally get into. Not as whacked as ORANSSI PAZUZU’s last album but veering in that direction. It is surely in its own little corner of the universe…