The Sullen Route - Apocalyclinic (CD)

Review
Aristocrazia
26.12.2011

Avevamo lasciato i russi The Sullen Route solo un anno fa in occasione della recensione riguardante il debutto "Madness Of My Own Design".
In quella circostanza si aveva fra le mani un album buono, piacevole all'ascolto ma privo di personalità e percorrente strade battute e ribattute, in una parola: canonico.
Con il secondo "Apocalyclinic" la storia cambia decisamente e adesso vediamo pure come.
La band al pari di un serpente sembra aver fatto la muta, buttata di lato la vecchia pelle si presenta con un sound che pur non disconoscendo il lato doom/death del passato si tinge adesso di venature gotiche, è capace di sviluppare striature progressive alquanto pregevoli e mostra in alcuni frangenti venature southern totalmente impreviste, è quindi una sorpresa continua.
Sette tracce ognuna degna di menzione, è però solo su quattro che voglio focalizzare la mia attenzione: "Hysteria", l'opener mette da subito palesemente in vista i cambi attuati, rimangono la profondità e parte del sound scuro primorde, l'atmosfera però risente gradevolmente di influssi melancolici e la voce oltre alle più classiche linee in growl aggiunge delle soluzioni più agrodolci nei momenti riflessivi in cui è una sorta di "graffiato" che prende il controllo dietro il microfono.
Se il primo pezzo dell'album è già sintomo di una evoluzione interna evidente sia in fase di songwriting che di mentalità compositiva generale, con "Cynoptic" e il suo atteggiamento gelido, quasi distaccato emotivamente in cui è solo l'operato di Elijah ad aumentarne il "calore", si denota una proposta che verte su dei suoni moderni, non so se l'aggettivo post sia adeguato, di sicuro è una visione alternativa che ben si sposa però con le più "inquadrate" ma comunque non prevedibili versioni southern con additivo rockeggiante che prende possesso di "Dune" e quella gothic riscontrabile nella più amara e velata di grigio "Tonight's Avenue".
È un gran bel passo in avanti quello compiuto dai The Sullen Route con "Apocalyclinic", c'è però da precisare che il disco proprio per la sua natura così "diversa" dal solito, meno pressante, se non nella prestazione vocale, e incline a una "ripetitività" che assuefa con dolcezza, non è di quelle release da consigliare a chiunque, come superare tale "scoglio"? L'unica soluzione, come sempre del resto, è ascoltarlo più volte, riuscirete a entrare in contatto con ciò che sono adesso? Datevi una risposta.

Author: Mourning

Review
The Pit of The Damned
7.5/10
17.12.2011

Devo ammettere che non mi avevano fatto impazzire in occasione della loro prima release anche se un 65 se l’erano portato a casa, colpa di un sound un po’ troppo ridondante, fin troppo asfissiante e privo di una certa personalità. Il quartetto russo (orfano della bella bassista che aveva popolato i miei sogni in occasione della prima release) ci riprova e devo confessare che un bel balzo in avanti i nostri l’hanno fatto, forse seguendo anche le indicazioni che da più parti erano arrivate dagli addetti ai lavori, e che quanto contestavo nel precedente “Madness of my Own Design”, in questo nuovo capitolo è stato definitivamente limato e sistemato. Partendo comunque da una base death doom, ecco che la band di Volgograd ha seguito qualche piccolo accorgimento: migliorato sensibilmente il songwriting e lo si evince fin dall’iniziale “Hysteria”; abbandonate le divagazioni pachidermiche, conferendo una maggiore ariosità e dinamicità alla proposta anche nelle parti più strettamente doom come nella seconda “Selfish I”; migliorata decisamente la performance vocale, con Elijah molto più sicuro nella sua veste non growl (non posso parlare di clean perché non sarebbe corretto). Ciò che di buono c’era nel debut è rimasto invariato e sto parlando di quelle atmosfere malinconiche/autunnali che qui sono state riprese e curate maggiormente nei dettagli (splendida “Burial Ground”) dove addirittura il doom sembra voler lasciare posto a delle divagazioni post rock, con parti arpeggiate che contribuiscono nel permeare il tutto di una velata vena nostalgica. L’album trasuda di calde emozioni: “Cynoptic” è una song dal mood quasi trip hop spezzata solo dal growling profondo di Elijah e da un riffing a tratti possente. L’apice lo si raggiunge però con “Dune”, song che miscela un southern metal con il death, questo a dimostrare che i The Sullen Route questa volta devono essere presi decisamente sul serio, perché le idee ci sono e sono anche estremamente interessanti, come dimostrato dal finale goticheggiante affidato a “Tonight’s Avenue” e alla roboante “All in October” (che mi ha ricordato qualcosa dei Rapture). Bel disco, ne sono lieto. Ora mi aspetto il capolavoro con la prossima release. Avanti tutta!

Author: Francesco Scarci

Review
Mtuk Metal Zine

Aha, another dose of miserabilism from the Eastern purveyors of all things depressive, those fine chaps over at Bad Mood Man music / Solitude Productions. Nicely enough, this is really quite different than the last batch of their albums that I reviewed, which although all good in their own rights, were essentially all varieties of My Dying Bride clones. Happily, “The Sullen Route” aren't really cut from the same cloth at all.

A four piece hailing from Russia, (the new home of doom/death?), it's fair to say that while the band are very much in doom territory, this is a somewhat more sophisticated offering than those of their immediate peers. For the most part, this is medium to slow paced downcast, downbeat music that clearly has roots in death metal, without being burdened by the more cro-magnon elements of the music. With definite touches of light and shade in their compositions, they have more to do with the more progressive and imaginative extreme doom bands out there, and while I would hesitate to place them musically alongside the likes of Ghost Brigade and Daylight Dies, there is more than a passing affinity to the same atmosphere that is created. Quite a bit simpler than the afore mentioned bands, there maybe isn't too much musically here that is going to blow you away; many of the riffs are fairly basic (albeit played well), and the melodies that erupt now and then to add some fractured light to the mire are perfect for the songs without ever being flashy virtuoso displays of technical talent. Elijah certainly isn't going to be winning any awards for originality for his brutal hoarse bellow, but then sometimes there is something to be said for the familiarity that bands can offer.

While this isn't ever going to be winning awards for originality or technicality, it does have a really pleasing maudlin atmosphere running throughout, and avoids the lace-hanky boo-hoo-isms that infect much of the rest of the gothic doom oeuvre. The simplicity of the music actually works in favour of the band, with the songs being given time and space to breathe, an almost organic production helps in this regard, with some of the rawness of the emotion almost erupting from the speakers when this disc is turned up loud. A worthy addition to the Bad Mood Man catalogue, and a definite band to watch for the future. This album provides sturdy foundations to build upon for the future. It may not be making my best of the year list, but it's also a long way off the worst.

Author: Chris Davison

Review
Hellride Music
14.11.2011

Simply put, bands like The Sullen Route are very few and far between these days.

Their sound is somewhere between the more melodic and dark instrumental traits of Isis, and a uniquely delicate balance between their own debut’s surreal and intricate doom/death funereal atmospheres. On Apocalyclinic the band is less suffocating and abysmal, and leaves a lot of room to breathe although I can honestly say that they still maintain the musical embodiment of their name. The album as a whole makes me feel as if I’ve just abandoned society and it’s contentions and trekked off into the void destined to wander aimlessly in solitude, but more for an intellectual reason and enlightenment journey versus simply abandoning life and heading for self-inflicted misery.

The rhythms are very loose, slightly proggy/mathy, but still managing to avoid post-metal altogether in a way that keeps them distinctly dark and metal, that is PURELY metal ( ... had to add that in for those that have a weak stomach for the so-called “weaker” and dare say “prettier” forms of METAL).

Overall the best way to describe Apocalyclinic is to say that it plays out the ideas of solitude and searching through sadness for something better versus the expected suicidal, frustrated, hopeless, and desperate ill-fated themes that go with “solitude” and “sadness” inspired creations. The vocals still maintain a hint of the painsokaed and deliberate impact of artists like Evoken, then there’s some raspy almost spoken word vocal parts that act almost as “clean”, but never do they stray away from the grim and intense style expected. The solo/melodic guitar work is so clean in places that it really triggers a respectful awe alongside a deep-rooted internal response to the mood they create. Even the riffs crash down in a skull shattering delivery upon the listener creating this inescapable force of being sucked into the vast blackness of where no standard soul would ever venture by choice.

The heavy steel laid down to open the opener, “Hysteria” gets you innervated for something anthemic and powerful than keeps it going strong with hints of the dark melodic prog metal of say Porcupine Tree, and I’d even say that there’s some definite similarities to bands like Russian Circles/Isis/Red Sparrows present. But even with the melodic and emotional tinge, the heart of this song and the album is absolutely bleeding and turning to stone over time, it’s gloom metal as opposed to Doom metal.

“Burial Ground” is a melodic and down-tuned bulldozer pure and simple. Aside from the chugging, sometimes shredding riffs, the band still manages to not only have this haunting western/desert guitar melody behind the mix that brings to mind more of a vision of a graveyard in the middle of Death Valley, with an interesting and yet unknown history to it. It has some “The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly” in it, but the way the band lays it down without ever going too “emo” or technical really captures the listener in the saga that is the song itself and drowns them as a result. Songs like “Dune” even have a killer steel/slide guitar intro that aids in the experience of wandering through the desert, which is what you really feel as if you’re doing as you listen to this album through it’s entirety. It’s a very "lost in the American desert along a dusty and barren highway" envisioning track with a hearty dose of great metal riffing and arpeggiated technicality.

So in summary, this is a masterful and unique experience that shows how an already solid band can continue to evolve as can metal and it’s sub-genres into something timeless instead of being yet another white elephant. Most of us have such little cash to burn on buying everything that comes out, so why buy more albums of the same old shit when you can get something (singular) that you will actually enjoy and remember... it makes more cents, doesn’t it?

Seriously, I can’t pull myself away from this one to review the others, it’s just that intense and heavy. I really look forward to hearing more from this Russian band in the near future, this is seriously hypnotic and intoxicating stuff to listen to.

Fans of: Evoken, Solitude Aeturnus, Isis, While Heaven Wept, Mirror of Deception.

Seriously check them out at their website and also on YouTube (They have “Dune” and “Hysteria”)

Author: Janet Willis

Review
Femforgacs
7.7/10
11.11.2011

Az orosz, The Sullen Route tavalyi debüt lemezéről haragSICK írt egy nagyon hangulatos kritikát, aminek a bevezetőjében megemlítette, hogy a srácok nem aprózták el a dolgokat, mindenféle demó, vagy EP készítése helyett egyből egy nagylemezzel rukkoltak elő.
A Madness of My Own Design egy tradicionális doom-death album lett, némi post rockos színesítéssel, de „a járt utat a járatlanért el ne hagyj” szlogen teljes mértékű betartásával készült. Ezzel szemben az új opusz, az Apocalyclinic olyan, mintha egy, a demós korszakát élő banda műve lenne, akik még keresik a saját hangjukat, kísérleteznek stílusokkal, hangzásokkal, mielőtt kiadnának egy nagylemezt. Vagy csak ki akartak próbálni valami mást is, ezért lett jóval heterogénebb, színesebb a debüthöz képest az új album?

Erre csak ők tudnának válaszolni, mi csupán annyit érzünk, hallunk az egészből, hogy ezúttal egy jóval bátrabb zenei anyag született.
Én nem vagyok feltétlen híve az első lemezüknek, bár elismerem az értékeit, de leginkább a lassan kibontakozó, tanítani valóan felépített, gyönyörű dallamvezetésű gitárszólók miatt maradt meg az emlékezetemben. Bár haragSICK több bandát is említett párhuzamként, én mindenképp hozzátenném még a korai Paradise Lost nevét is, hisz a gitárszólók kapcsán nekem egyből az ilyen gitározásban szinte felülmúlhatatlan Greg Mackintosh neve ugrott be és a korai Lost lemezeken prezentált szólói.
De ahogy a Hysteria a be-be úszó gitárhangok után beindul, egy zeneileg, felépítését tekintve (sőt bizonyos szempontból ide csaphatjuk az éneket is), a középkorszakos (Shades of God – Draconian Times) Lostot halljuk szinte majdnem ugyanolyan minőségben!
Az első lemezen nyoma sem volt a dallamosabb énekkísérleteknek, itt már a kezdő nóta valami olyasmivel indít, ami bár még nem tökéletes, de mindenképp üdítő!
Legalábbis számomra, mert én az angol nagymesterek lemezeit is onnantól kezdtem el igazán értékelni, miután Nick igazi éneklésre ragadtatta magát. A Selfish I a narrációt kombinálja a hörgéssel, a refrén alatt pedig egy akkora horzsoló, mélyre hangolt, szigorú riffet tolnak, hogy attól féltem szétmennek a hangfalaim! Egyébként néhol olyan, mintha túl lenne kompresszálva a sound, no nem Death Magnetices szinten, de azért majdnem…
Viszont már az első két dal után feltűnt, hogy bár sokkal nagyobb teret engedtek a kísérletezésnek, a debüt nagyszerű gitárszólóit viszont mintha száműzték volna. Mondjuk vannak díszítések, és a Selfish I-ban úgy tűnik, hogy már-már elindul valami, de aztán szinte ugyanazt a dallamot ismétli a gitáros, tehát a klasszikus értelemben nem fejlődik szólóvá.
Csakúgy, mint a leghosszabb nótában, a Burial Groundban.
A Cynoptic a post metal vizeire evez, hogy aztán a Dune képében megkapjuk a legkísérletezősebb dalt, ugyanis kb. az történik, hogy keverik benne a déli stoneres, „mocsár-metalos” vonalat a szokásos deathes doomolással. A végeredmény föltétlen érdekes, de inkább pozitív, mint degradáló, negatív irányba. Vagyis pofás kis nóta, csak a dallamos ének jár még nagyon gyerekcipőben.
A Tonight’s Avenue-ban aztán megkapom azt, amire az első dal óta várok, vagyis a Mackintosh-féle szólót! Az énekes meg olyasmi ráspolyos, vodka és cigi áztatta hangon dalolászik, mint Tom Waits.
Az 5. perc környékén itt is kapunk egy kis post rockos lebegést, amiből az a fajin kis szóló bontakozik ki és a lemez legjobb énekötlete is itt figyel, sajnos elég gyenge minőségben prezentálva. Egy jó énekes tálalásában ez katartikus pillanat lenne, így megmarad ígéret szintjén. Ahogy a banda maga, akik annak ellenére, hogy nem végeztek tökéletes munkát, egy vállalható, többdimenziós lemezt tettek le az asztalra, ami a jövőre nézve elég biztató.

Mondanom se kell, ha a későbbiekben még több dallamos énekkel szeretnének operálni, akkor nagyon rá kell feküdni arra a hangképzésre, mert a záró All In October (leginkább ez a dal idézi a debüt világát) végighörgéséhez megvan a vokalista képessége, de a tiszta ének esetében hallhatóak a hiányosságai.
Összességében én jobban szeretem ezt az albumot az előzőnél, és kíváncsian várom a folytatást!

Author: oldboy