The Sullen Route - Madness Of My Own Design (CD)

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
Vibrations of Doom
9.2/10

Yeah, you all know what this is, where it comes from, and why it kicks ass... It's another winner from the Russian doom label. This time around, though, it's amazing to me how simplistic the guitar work is making up the framework, but it conveys the melancholic and serene atmosphere SO well. The opener 'Dagon' (well fuck! They had me RIGHT THERE with that song title) has quite interesting opening guitar riffs, they're high ended and slightly fuzzed out. And of course a highlight of this entire disc is the high ended guitar notes. The one thing that did catch me off guard was the odd sound coming from the double bass pedals; this isn't REALLY a problem until CD ender 'One Way For Burning,' when the heavier guitar work is accentuated by faster double bass drumming. Anyway, followup 'Gates' had the oddest guitar riffs, they sounded ALMOST like they were out of tune, but they were really catchy as well; I wonder if this was done on purpose! Dark & solitary acoustic guitars start off 'I Come With The Rain,' and the on/off riff patterns were quite nice. Spoken vocal passages pop up a few times on this album; tastefully done and not overused. 'My Autumn Call' keeps it simple but has nice high ended guitar notes, and it's here that I noticed for the first time how tortured the death metal styled vocals sound; it's not your atypical growl and seems to add a sense of pain into the proceedings. There's TONS of solo instrumentation (IE, no vocal passages) on many of the tracks, however I think with the ten minute CD ender 'One Way For Burning,' there might have been a bit too much, especially since on that particular track, a minute or so of guitar patterns seemed very off. And the track before it 'No Memories, No Matter' had some solitary guitar work that seemed like it could have used more fleshing out. The rest of the tracks blew me away, especially the cut 'Sullen Route' which was a 5 minute instrumental, but managed to hold my interest the entire time (it helped that there was a beautiful set of acoustic like guitars at the halfway point. Things start to sound a little similar by tracks 7 and especially 8, but all in all it's not the atypical doom/death thing, opting to throw a few curveballs here and there. The atmosphere's the thing though, and simplistic though those riffs may be, they create TONS of melody and ambience to a CD that has just the right riffs in all the right places. Can't wait for the next full length!

Review
Inwë[B]zine
17.02.2011

La dénomination du groupe ou son étiquette peut parfois prêter à confusion, cela arrive même trop souvent. Pour THE SULLEN ROUTE, on m’annonce un Doom/Death à la Ataraxie, les Portugais de Process of Guilt font aussi référence. Personnellement je veux le croire volontiers, d’autant plus que j’ai confiance en Solitude Prod. qui a une très bonne réputation dans le milieu underground doomesque et qui m’envoie comme d’habitude des vrais cds et pas des Ipools (bon là je pense que le message est passé, toi lecteur assidu de mes chroniques).

Revenons à notre sujet, notre fantastique Doom/Death comme ils disent nos p’tits Russes favoris. Sauf que moi, je ne vois pas ça pareil, leur soi-disant Doom/Death lorgne beaucoup vers le Death lent, mais pas vers du Doom. Stupeur dans la cage neuronale du haricot, bah mince, on m’aurait menti - dixit le vélo fou vitaminé de Virenque-.

Certes, des phases lentes parcourent la galette mais jamais de manière pachydermique ou terrifiante comme sur le premier album d’Ataraxie. Pas mal de passages trop rapides pour moi et pour être catalogué de la sorte. Pourtant, quand le tempo ralentit, on voit apparaître quelques relents poisseux Sludge qui ne sont pas faits pour me déplaire. Quant aux passages rapides, bien que très maîtrisés, ils ne créent pas l’alchimie d’un groupe de Doom qui accélère le tempo.

Pour ce qui est des mélodies, nos Russes misent avant tout sur elles pour essayer de conquérir l’auditoire. Parfois redondantes, parfois d’un formalisme assez déconcertant ou abrasives et belles, comme à l’image d’un Gate ou d’un I Come With the Rain. De belles douceurs sont ici développées avec brio. Des élans peuvent être incompris de ma carcasse et gâchent une bonne écoute, tant par leur longueur outrancière, comme sur le titre éponyme Sullen Route qui a le don de me faire sortir de l’écoute à chaque fois à cause de certaines notes qui me paraissent fausses et mal jouées. Pourtant ce disque n’a pas que des points faibles, bien au contraire. D’ailleurs un de ses gros points forts se situe au niveau du chant, grave à souhait, granuleux, abrasif, percutant. Le cd jouit aussi d’un excellent son et d’une bonne maîtrise technique (mises à part les dites fausses notes sur un morceau).

Difficile de vous conseiller d’acheter ce cd. Ne faites pas comme moi en voyant l’annonce publicitaire du label, et en sautant dessus sans en écouter la moindre parcelle. Avec huit titres pour vous décider vous devriez soit aimer, soit détester, mais il n’y aura pas de juste milieu.

Author: Haricot magic

Review
Metal Library
6/10
28.02.2011

Для любого исполнителя, тем боле начинающего самое важное – что скажет слушатель, а не что написано в той или иной рецензии, насколько часто их альбом появляется в обсуждении на порталах, или с каким количеством знаменитых зарубежных коллег их сравнят. А слушатель уже скажет, купив этот альбом (всем же все равно, по сути, что он дальше с ним сделает). Вот, о группе The Sullen Route родом из Волгограда, любой достаточно опытный слушатель скажет, что это почти классический doom death полностью гитарного происхождения с хорошим "жирным" звуком, низкими риффами одной гитары и меланхоличными, протяжными, стонущими мелодиями, тянущимися вслед за второй гитарой, в сопровождении сырого, горлового гроула, примерно одной тональности и вяловатыми ударными. Многие ответят, что он похож на сонм групп сыгравших все аккорды в данном стиле до них, но при конкретном вопросе: "каких?", непременно начнут запинаться, пытаясь выцедить известные им названия. В итоге вы наверняка получите полный исторически верный набор наименований исполнителей – совершенно верно, получите. Ведь россияне набрали ото всех понемногу, начиная от тех самых My Dying Bride, продолжая Paradise Lost, взбираясь на современные подступы к Mourning Beloveth, цепляя шведо-финские настроения дождливых мелодий, разбирая по косточкам бетонирующие слои с Morgion и восточно-европейскими группами. Проще выражаясь, The Sullen Route это сборная солянка стиля в миниатюре, но пока еще в выражениях начинающего.

Тут местами слегка проседает звук, выпростав из-под полы, плохо состыкованные звуки при одиноких переходах необработанной соло гитары в не менее сырой ритмический рисунок, и это не задумка для усиления эффекта, а недоработка записи. Иногда вокал словно срывается с монументального, грозного постамента, опускаясь на грешную землю, переставая впечатлять. В развитие мелодических линий кое-где мелькают остатки юношеского логоневроза, где соло гитара секунду другую раздумывает, последовать ли прежним путем, или выбрать новый. Практически нет на альбоме ускорений или утяжеления звучания – они выражаются в выключении второго гитариста из процесса, засушивание музыки, что естественно влияет на интерес. И хвала музыкантам, что их звучание выбирает моменты для затишья, когда можно путем сравнения, все-таки выделить некоторое разнообразие композиционного построения. Мы подошли к главному: в альбоме "Madness Of My Own Design" нет ни капли оригинальности... даже название коллектива могло светиться наплывной модной обыденностью, если бы осталось симметричным первой песне. Среди всех треков в некоторой степени выделяются те, что решили оставить в себе, не самые типичные перекликающиеся акустические щипки и тремоло, тем не менее, на "Sullen Route", "Madness Of My Own Design" вносящие лишь требуемое для хорошего прослушивания, не более. Порой мниться, что за не большой длительностью скрывается бедность идей (а ведь в череде монотонных, следующих друг за другом, без намека на драматургию гармонических решений искать ее очень не хочется), впрочем, лучший, эпический трек "One Way For Burning" с оптимистичным настроем на будущее группы, после которого предлагаю вам самим, слушателям, сказать свое слово в отношении волгоградской группы.

Author: Maliceth aka Алк.

Review
Temple of Doom Metal
17/20
24.11.2010

Após os primeiros segundos de "Dagon", não foi possível deixar de pensar se não tínhamos recuado cerca de 20 anos e estávamos no epicentro de toda uma cena que começava a despontar, onde toda a gente já estava saturada de bandas ultra-rápidas e brutais, com temas disparados à velocidade da luz; o Doom/Death Metal entrava em cena e arrastava uma boa quantidade de metalheads na sua torrente pesada e pesarosa. Ainda presente, mas menos caudalosa, esta mesma torrente continua a trazer à tona algumas boas propostas.
De facto, tal como à uma vintena de anos na Inglaterra, na Rússia existe uma "cena" muito própria, com o seu som definido, dentro da sonoridade Doom. Ao longo deste ano, foi possível verificar que estamos perante uma área crescente e criativa, que dá cartas, principalmente, no mercado europeu.
Neste conjunto de propostas, surge-nos pela mão da Solitude Productions, o trabalho de estreia dos The Sullen Route e, tal como escrevemos no início deste texto, é uma autêntica bomba de peso, devastação e angústia, tudo apresentado em bases rítmicas bem lentas, com guitarras bem lancinantes e duras, ou seja, uma óptima escolha para os amantes deste género. Estes oito temas vão beber, descaradamente - e bem! -, aos anos 90, a fontes como Skepticism ou ao trio Anathema/My Dying Bride/Paradise Lost na sua fase inicial, conseguindo criar bons temas, de entre os quais "Dagon", "Gates" ou "Sullen Route" são bom exemplo disso mesmo. Actualmente, o seu som andará perto de projectos como Mourning Beloveth, Evoken ou mesmo dos portugueses Process Of Guilt, só para terem uma noção do que espera quem se atrever a colocar à frente desta massa enorme de peso.
Foi uma agradável surpresa esta estreia deste quinteto, lançando um excelente trabalho, deixando-nos com água na boca para uma actuação ao vivo ou então para novos registos. Digno de registo, portanto! (17/20)

English:
After the first few seconds of "Dagon", we could not help wondering if we had retreated about 20 years and we were at the epicenter of an entire scene that was beginning to dawn, when everyone was already saturated of bands ultra-fast and brutal with issues raised at the speed of light: the Doom/Death Metal came on the scene and drew a good amount of metalheads in their heavy and sorrowful flood.
Still present, but less plentiful, the same stream continues to bring out some good proposals.
In fact, as to a score of years in England, in Russia today there is a "scene" of their very own, with its definite sound within the sound Doom. Throughout this year, it was verified that this is a growing and creative area, giving cards, mainly in the European market.
In this set of proposals, comes to us by the hand of Solitude Productions, the debut work of The Route Sullen and, as we wrote earlier is a real bomb weight, devastation and anguish, all presented in very slow rhythmic bases with guitars and piercing and hard, that is, a great choice for lovers of this genre. These eight themes will drink, shamelessly - and well! -, to 90’s decade, from sources like Skepticism as to the trio Anathema/My Dying Bride/Paradise Lost in its early stages, managing to create good themes, including "Dagon," "Gates" or "Sullen Route" that are good examples of this. Today, their sound walk around with projects like Mourning Beloveth, Evoken or even the Portuguese Process Of Guilt, just to get an idea of what it hopes those who dare to put in front of this huge mass of weight.
It was a pleasant surprise this debut of the quintet, releasing an excellent work, leaving us salivating for a live performance or so for new records. Noteworthy, therefore!

Author: quarta-feira