ninehertz

Russian blackened doom and post-metal act Crust have a phenomenal release schedule, with albums appearing from them at such tight routines, it’s a wonder they have time to record, never mind write so much. In that context, the fact Sönma feature members of Crust comes as both a surprise and none at all. These people just have a constant need to create.

If there’s a thought that this thins out the quality, then think again as it’s quite the opposite, driving these musicians to new realms, to push outwardly at any perceived genre restrictions. Sönma are their own band with their own style, bringing something unique and wildly interesting at every turn.

I wouldn’t normally start my analysis of the music focussing on the drums, but it’s unavoidable here – the percussion is something else, atypical for the genre and creating a permanent mystique in the music throughout the record. When that is added to by ghostly guitars within an airy aura, augmented by croaked vocals slithering out from the fog, it makes for something that is almost funeral doom, close to drone but as a whole nothing of and yet all of these things at the same time.

That sense of navigating a spirit world pervades, like you are encountering numerous spectres along the album’s narrative. It veers towards cosmic warped black metal through an astral cloud, howls join the vocals as it revolves into interestingly patterned space drone. Eastern wind instrumentation adds to the wild, innovative atmosphere.

These are strange emanations that could provide the backing soundtrack to a ghost house horror or equally a vast sci-fi epic. There’s a sense of grand planet-sized terraforming through the turbulent atmospheres. It is thrilling to explore.