Search - Dark Suns :: Swanlike

Ambitious release by promising musicians..

eternal now | mankato | 09/30/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Swanlike" is a rather decent album by Germany's Dark Suns. While not being a must have, there is some great qualities on this CD. Upon first listen, one can really hear the influences of bands like Opeth, Anathema, Porcupine Tree and Pain of Salavation. Deeper listens and one will notice a striking simularity to American band Novembers Doom.

"Swanlike" holds a deep Doom/Death Metal style with Doom-ish vocals and a duel guitar style similar to earlier Opeth releases such as "Orchid" and "Morningrise".

Most of the vocals and lyrics are forgettable to me, I rather hate the clean vocals and disagree with the reivewers on the internet who stated that the lead singer sounds a lot like Mikael Akerfelt from Opeth. His growls somewhat do, but his clean vocals are wretched and way too Doomy for my tastes.

Another thing that bothers me about this album is that they try too hard to sound like their favorite bands, and it comes across sounding really bad and contrived at times.

Nevertheless, "Swanlike" displays a very ambitious and hungry band that shows much promise, which they prove on their later release "Existence", a far much better release that shows Dark Suns shining through in their own style, ditching the poor Doom impression and adopting a more Progressive Metal apporach."