Black Sun - Twilight of the Gods
More manly than a pair of testicles dressed as a Viking, smashing bricks into a steam train, Black Sun perpetrate noisy sludge metal. This in itself is not especially noteworthy, but there are some notable features that tick all requisite boxes. Vocalist sounds like he’s swallowing a metal hedgehog ? Check. Lyrics that sound like something from the diary of a Lithium ingesting teen ? Check Downtuned to the point of madness ? Check.
They definitely have a flair for full on sludge, but I feel the band are at their best when eschewing stereotypes of the genre and relying on some of their more unique features, for instance having a vocalist possessed by the spirit of Mercedes McCambridge (on the deeply mad but fantastic “Baby Don’t Cry” or “Tabula Rasa”) is something to shout about. No pun intended. There are a couple of cringeworthy moments lyrically. The countdown on “Warhead” is virtually inexcusable and some of the shouty moments did have a tendency to make me giggle.
All in all this is a good record. Not perfect, but it is definitely worth visiting Future Noise for. This label knows what it’s doing ( being home of the first Sontaran Experiment record split with the noisy Stuntcock) so get in there now and support the noise.
Kim Monaghan
