From what I’ve heard, everything in Australia wants to kill you. Fortunately, I don’t think the bands that come from there do (well, maybe Destroyer 666), but Australia has a pretty rich, non-murdering history of bands. Add to that legacy Black Sea of Trees, a pleasant doom/progressive death metal quartet out of sunny Melbourne. Celebrating the release of their second full-length Cult of the Sun, following The Spiritual Beast (2023- Independent release), which I have not heard.
There comes a time in every critic’s life when they’re torn on an album whereby on the one hand you have a good, compelling album with cool moments, but then there’s the feeling that it’s boring as watching flies fuck, and so you (as the critic) must be diplomatic.
A few listens later…
Well, it all starts with “Divinity”, a nice instrumental track that erupts into “A Red Dawn”, and it’s got a pretty good chug to it, kicking off with a sick roar that brings the brutality out. It’s not overly brutal as in say… It’s not Dying Fetus or anything like that. More like a Green Carnation meets Opeth meets later on Amorphis. That doesn’t make sense. Too fucking bad, this is sort of a choose-your-own-adventure album.
“Servant to the Sun” has this slow-burning sense of urgency, the melody kind of echoing Tales From The Thousand Lakes; while the following “Prophecy” brings in some gravitas in the form of another chill instrumental track.
“Visions of a Crimson Moon” comes lurching forward and brings another roar to open the album. This one has more of a staccato riffing that makes it sound a bit progressive. This could have been a thrashing track, but that would be like putting a Polka song on a Mayhem album. I can picture a lot of crab walking going on around the midsection point where they get extra heavy.
The title track is like watching paint dry, however. It drags you along while being as dull as can be. This is that torn feeling I talked about earlier. I don’t like this song, but it doesn’t tarnish the album any more than “Meant to Be” did on the latest Testament album.
“Omen” has a cool intro riff but falls into mediocrity pretty damn quick. “Field of Reeds” is yet another instrumental that meanders like a drunk on the way home. It’s a pretty tune, but it’s a whatever track at the end of the day.
There’s probably a reason why I don’t usually review albums like this because, ultimately, it’s been done before and by better bands. Not saying that Black Sea of Trees is slouching on their instruments because they’re certainly not, but I think I wanted more than what I got with Cult of the Sun.
“Eclipse” and “The Dark Distance” round out the album, and I can’t really say it’s with a bang. I wanted to like Cult of the Sun, but alas, I don’t.
Having said that, if you do happen to like this sort of thing and you love the new sound of Opeth, then maybe this is for you. So, follow your heart and pick this up… if you want.
