Sujo is another one-man shoegazy-black-doom-post-whatever metal project, who released a compelling E.P. entitled Ondan earlier this year.
The opener, ‘Ondan’, wouldn’t sound out of place on a Deftones record, with its hazy atmosphere, melodies buried within the almighty fuzz. This dies in a swirl of claustrophobic electronics to conclude the track, before savage but rather rudimentary blastbeats fill the air as the following piece, ‘Lost Numbers’, kicks in. Beneath the crude 90’s Black Metal drums lie some soaring melodies that ebb and flow beneath the mire. Indeed, Sujo are one of those bands like Skullflower whose subtle melodies and enjoyability have to be unraveled slowly over a period of time, as there are so many layers to the band’s compositions. We reach the three-minute mark of ‘Lost Numbers’, and some rather ominous reverby keys take the precedent. This continues for a while in a kaleidoscope of ambiguous noise to conclude the track.
Track 3, ‘Repose’, begins with a catchy drumbeat, and conventional, melodic guitar work. This is at odds with anything we’ve heard so far, and reminds me strongly of Devin Townsend’s solo work from the early 2000s. Glorious post-rock melodies pervade the middle of this song, and the intrigue never lets up, before another twisted, synth-driven blur breaks it down into nothingness. This act of building up and destroying appears to be the main theme of Ondan, obviously typical within the realm of post-rock/metal, but Sujo provide enough intrigue to reward repeated plays.
