SUN OF THE SUNS “TIIT”
By Dr. Abner Mality
This one took a lot of musing before I put finger to keyboard. SUNS OF THE SUNS is an unabashedly modern death metal band that doesn’t pretend to give props to the old school. It’s a mix of super down tuned MESHUGGAH style math metal and technical modern death metal/deathcore in the vein of THY ART IS MURDER and the like. Not exactly in the Good Doctor’s wheelhouse. “TIIT” is said to be a science fiction concept album, which is not unknown these days, but what the whole story is here escapes me. It seems to be some kind of virtual reality/cyberpunk deal.
Listening to this objectively, there are some pretty damn cool riffs here and some shredding prog metal solos as well. There is also a lot of very typical sounding breakdowns and MESHUGGAH-style power chugging and angular hooks. It’s almost a 50/50 mix of impressive and ho-hum. Although SOTS are great players, their style is not as innovative as the gushing press sheet makes it out to be. It falls pretty firmly in the style described above, so don’t expect the innovation the PR promises.
Even so, I can’t argue with the sheer blinding intensity of “Demiurge Pt. II” and “The Golden Cage”, which mix MESHUGGAH-ish brutality with soaring, spacy sounds. The drumming comes courtesy of session man and FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE member Francesco Paoli, who lays down a frantic, clattering beat. Vocals are mostly mush-mouthed death grunts. By the end of the album the style of SOTS kind of hits the wall and sounds samey. But there are many moments worthy of inspection on “TIIT” and I have to admit there is promise in this band.