"Sunterra”Dare to do something new with their rebirth and when guitars start heavy riffs, the synths screech and growls are accompanied by jumping beats. The Austrian Gothic Metal band makes music under the sign of the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis and combines metal with scratching and mixes a good pinch of industrial and dubstep (!) Into the compositions. Yes friends, you read that right! Sounds strange, but that's exactly what makes the six songs on “Reborn” so varied. The band defines the direction for itself and mixes the ingredients anew to present amazingly stirring tracks.
A twelve-year dry spell ends with “Reborn”. At that time, “Graceful Tunes” was the last album by the Gothic Metallers, founded in 1994. After that it was quiet, the Austrian band was on hold for nine years and was reactivated in 2015 with a new line-up and a change of musical course. With much more experimental sounds, the title of the EP “Reborn” couldn't be more appropriate. Somehow the Viennese remind me of “Crematory”, even if “Sunterra”Does not rely on clear and grwol chants by male representatives and here Libuscha“ Lilly ”Hruska and Karl“ Carlos ”Heinz Krug duel. Associations with “Lacuna Coil” and “Theater of Tragedy” can also be recognized, but it has to be clearly mentioned that the Viennese band does not sound like a copy of these bands, but that their independence is the focus. “Reborn” marks the resurrection of the metal formation and represents a fresh, new opus that is 100% “Sunterra”, but marks a musical advancement of the band without trampling its own legacy. “Sunterra” create their very own, unmistakable sound and show old and new fans that they have risen in a new freshness.
If you compare “Graceful Tunes” with “Reborn” you hardly see anything in common. Only the vocals are reminiscent of former deeds. Powerful growls still dominate, which go hand in hand with clear female vocals and distort here and there into harsh screams. Here and there on “Reborn” there are still interesting spoken word passages and other games in the experimental sound somewhere between Progressive Metal and Hardstyle / Dubstep. Tricky riffs and changeable song structures play with groove borrowings and here and there some Death Metal is interspersed. The whole thing is garnished with a lot of electro that sometimes hits hip hop beats, then again into bitter industrial realms, only to deliver a fat hardstyle broadside in the next song, but surprisingly manages to taste the abundance of variety with metal and to make the whole thing sound good. If you are not used to such experiments, you might have to try it out and listen to the EP once or twice more. After that, however, you quickly catch yourself celebrating the beats and singing along the choruses.
With the opener “Reign Supreme” they try to build a bridge to the past. There is heroic pounding Gothic Metal with drum thunderstorms, sawing guitars, deep-throated male growls and enchanting female singing around the ears. As the record progresses, however, you completely remove yourself from the gothic corner and metal also takes on an increasingly subordinate role. Instead, people are turning more and more to electro, that will probably be the term Metalstep (!) Mentioned in the promosheet. The second song turned out completely different, after an experimental beginning a dark melody follows. “Shadow In The Dark” is introduced dramatically until interesting sound constructs join them, which lead to a sad piano game. Dark gloomy sadness carried by Lilly's singing. “Lord Of Lies” really goes wild and is electronically distorted Gothic Metal with a driving melody. It gets really brutal with “This Is WAR”. Increased speed, rough Gothic Metal, drum volleys, soulful, sad piano passages and a dash of electro. The song is much more experimental and borrows a lot from crossover soundscapes and progressive metal. In “Ministry Of Thoughts” Gothic Metal, dark electro and swirling dubstep elements meet. Sounds strange when you read it, but it sounds good and goes well with the track. “Shut up”, on the other hand, comes out of the speakers dark and bizarre. The whole thing offers aggressive Death Metal components, riffing in the classic industrial sound and melody lines like in Gothic Metal. Together with the Scratches, it is a strange, idiosyncratic and previously unheard variant of metallic music. There is also a clearly experimental list and many sounds that are familiar from Prog Metal.
Overall, the songs are full of musical contrasts and the music of “Sunterra” is bursting with variety, which makes the tracks seem a bit “restless” in places. I miss the “red thread” in this EP a little, but if you like it loud, grumpy and varied, this album will be well served. Technically there isn't much to complain about and the formation also has ideas. You have to like the electro vibes, fit like a fist in the eye despite the estimated sound. The basic structure of “Sunterra” doesn't detract from that, of course, you get varied, easily accessible and memorable Gothic-Rock / Metal songs with a multitude of undertones. “Sunterra” manage to break out of the prescribed genre corsets and create something very unique. Extremely varied, very changeable, yet absolutely authentic. The focus is on the duet singing of Lilly and Carlos, true to the motto: Beauty and the Beast. The coolest song on the disc is the most electronic one: “Shut Up !!!” is performed more or less in a duet and with a certain radio play character. An interesting idea that was implemented well and significantly enhances the disc. All in all, the EP gets through the ear canals well and is good fun in the long run. One can only hope that the Viennese won't take another twelve years until the next release. “Reborn” is exciting from start to finish and at the same time refreshingly different. Welcome back!
Tracklist:
- Reign Supreme
- Shadow in the Dark
- Lord of Lies
- This is WAR
- Ministry of Thoughts
- Shut up!!!
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