Brainwashed Review: Sun Splitter/Bridesmaid split

Brainwashed had some nice words to say about the new split 7" with Bridesmaid.

Link Here.

"After recently loving the Sun Splitter cassette on Land of Decay, I had high hopes going into this split and they most certainly came through. Their half here stands up proudly with that tape, which is no easy feat, and the Bridesmaid side is no slouch either.

Bridesmaid, who I was not really familiar with are definitely sailing similar waters to Sun Splitter, but still put their own unique spin on things. "Vilkin' It For All It's Worth" is a fully instrumental piece that initially conjures up images of smoke and bong water, with its overdriven bass and garage band drums that are just the right amount of messy. It’s an unrelenting headbanging delight until the final 30 seconds or so, where it just goes full bore into grindcore assault, shattering the comfortable repetition that preceded it violently.

On the other side, "Plum Blossom" by Sun Splitter is cut from the same cloth as their tape. Opening with a robotic cymbal passage into their wonderfully diverse Sabbath riffs, the track is pure noisy bliss. While the song doesn’t quite transform into as many odd configurations as some of their other songs, it does carefully balance a repeated vocal mantra with big, caveman riffs and more complex guitar notes, dissolving into screams and noise in the middle segment. Subtlety is tossed out the window at the end, when the drum machine is programmed for "machine gun" and the guitar is pure death metal.

Paired together, they both highlight different aspects of the sludgy, post-doom metal scene. The contrast between Bridesmaid's ramshackle drums and Sun Splitter's digital precision is especially noticeable since both are matched with heavy, fuzzed out bass guitars, but neither is better than the other, they're just different: different, but equally badass."

Brainwashed reviews II

Thanks to Brainwashed for another nice review.

Link here.

A limited cassette release of an even more limited CD-R, Chicago's Sun Splitter, in the span of around 30 minutes, condense all of what I consider to be the best moments of the past 40 years of metal. With elements of drone, doom, industrial, and even classic rock, it all comes together as a perfectly conceived release.

Land of Decay

Admittedly, I've never been a huge metal person. I find bands and albums that I enjoy, but it's not a scene I ever really immersed myself in, largely because whenever I did, I got burnt out rather quickly. It's also one where I find elements I love (big, heavy riffs, melodic solos) with ones I'm not so fond of (growled vocals, "shredding"). It's almost like this trio knew what I liked and tailored the album for my tastes.

For example, "Cairn of Old Eyes" opens with taut, rhythmic riffs over a stiff machine beat, but with changing sounds and structures, it has the complexity of prog rock without the unnecessary pretense. Along with this there’s more than a healthy dose of drawn out guitar tones and whispered, mantra like vocals. Closer "Carrion Eater" is cut from the same cloth, opening with similar vocals and a warm guitar tone, but focuses more on the melody, even with the big riffs.

"Northern Blood Tithe" has some of the dual rhythm guitar/drum machine combo sound that has garnered many comparisons to early Godflesh, but there’s just as much Sabbath to be heard. The melodic elements reminded me of mid-period Thin Lizzy, but that’s pretty much my only go-to touchstone for the '70s rock genre. As a whole it's slower, more spacious, with vocals so buried and processed they sound like an additional instrument more than anything else.

It follows the same template as "Earth Burner," in that both are more doomy and repetitious, but in a carefully measured way. The repetition in both serve to build tension, with "Earth Burner" slowly adding changes in to keep the track dynamic, but without interrupting the deliberate drone structure.

With a style that is reminiscent of many, but sounds like none, Sun Splitter has created one of the best metal albums without adhering to any specific conventions. There's melody, there's monolithic guitar riffs, there's dark, bleak ambience, and so much more that comes together so perfectly that I can't help but love this tape.

Exclaim.ca review of II

Thanks to Mike Simpson at Exclaim.ca for the kind words, here's what he had to say:

"Yet another worthy addition to Chicago, IL's diverse metal scene, Sun Splitter, with new EP II, have created a unique fusion of styles, some blackened, some doom, some almost unintelligible underneath the layers of unsettling noise present throughout the proceedings. The band's use of a drum machine brings forth the obligatory Godflesh reference, but with the addition of ambient, distorted vocals, the more experimental aspects of Blut Aus Nord also come to mind. The riffs are no small matter of discussion either; sometimes simple and given to industrial repetition, over the course of each of the lengthy four songs (the shortest clocking in at over six minutes), the group successfully morph their initial motifs into things entirely different, as on "Earth Burner," where themes hearkening back to the lurking doom of Trouble and Candlemass rear their ugly heads over a bed of increasingly harsh noise. One can only hope that a full-length to better sketch out these intriguing ideas is soon to follow.
(Land of Decay)"

Review of II on Anti-Gravity Bunny

The people (well, person) at Anti-Gravity Bunny have written a review of II that is actually better than the album itself, I think. You should read it.