Album Review: Sunterra - Reborn

«Sunterra» dare something new with their rebirth and when guitars start heavy riffs, the synths squeak and growls are accompanied by hopping beats. The Austrian gothic metal band makes music inspired by 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" varied. The band defines the direction for themselves and reshuffles the ingredients to present amazingly stirring tracks.

With «Reborn» a twelve-year dry spell ends, back then «Graceful Tunes» was the last album of the gothic metal band, which was founded in 1994. After that it was quiet, the Austrian band was on hold for a whole nine years and was reactivated in 2015 with a new line-up and musical change of 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 singing by male representatives and Libuscha «Lilly» Hruska and Karl «Carlos» Heinz Krug duel here. Associations with "Lacuna Coil" and "Theater of Tragedy" can also be recognized, but it must be clearly mentioned that the Viennese band does not sound like an image of these bands, but that their independence is in the foreground. 'Reborn' marks the resurrection of the metal formation and represents a fresh new opus that is 100% 'Sunterra' but marks a musical evolution of the band without trampling on its own heritage. "Sunterra" create their very own, unmistakable sound and show old and new fans that they have risen with 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 into harsh screams here and there. 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. Intricate riffs and changeable song structures play with borrowed grooves and here and there some Death Metal is thrown in. The whole thing is garnished with a good amount of electro, which sometimes bumps into hip hop beats, then again into harsh 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 it all sound good. If you're not used to experimenting like this, you might need to take it easy and listen to the EP one or two more times. After that, however, you quickly find yourself celebrating the beats and singing along to the choruses.

Album Review: Sunterra - Reborn

With the opener "Reign Supreme" they try to build a bridge to the past. There is heroically stomping Gothic Metal with drum thunderstorms, sawing guitars, deep-throated male growls and enchanting female vocals. As the record progresses, however, they completely move away from the Gothic corner and Metal also takes on an increasingly subordinate role. Instead, they turn more and more to electro, that will probably be the term Metalstep (!) mentioned in the promo sheet. The second song is completely different, after an experimental beginning follows a dark melody. "Shadow In The Dark" is introduced dramatically, until interesting sound constructions join them, which turn into a sad piano game. Dark gloomy sadness carried by Lilly's singing. «Lord Of Lies» really rocks and is electronically distorted Gothic Metal with a driving melody. It gets really brutal with «This Is WAR». Increased speed, rough Gothic Metal, drum salvos, emotionally 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, gloomy electro and swirling dubstep elements meet. Sounds strange when reading, but sounds good and fits the track well. «Shut up», on the other hand, comes out of the speakers in a dark and bizarre way. The whole thing offers aggressive Death Metal elements, riffing in a classic industrial sound and melody lines like in Gothic Metal. Together with the Scratches it is a strange, idiosyncratic and hitherto unheard variant of metallic music. In addition, there is a clearly experimental list and many sounds that you know from Prog Metal.

Overall, the songs are full of musical contrasts and the music of «Sunterra» is bursting with variety, which also makes the tracks seem a bit «restless» at times. I miss a little the "red thread" in this EP, but if you like it loud, grumpy and varied, you will be well served with this album. Technically there isn't much to grumble about and the formation also has ideas. You have to like the electro vibes, they fit like a glove despite the estimated sound. Of course, the basic structure of «Sunterra» doesn't detract from that, you get varied, easily accessible and memorable gothic rock/metal songs with a multitude of undertones. «Sunterra» manage to break out of prescribed genre corsets and create something very unique. Extremely varied, very changeable, yet absolutely authentic. The focus is on the duet singing by Lilly and Carlos, true to the motto: Beauty and the Beast. The coolest song on the disc is, of all things, the most electronic: «Shut Up!!!» is performed more or less as a duet and with a certain radio play character. An interesting idea that was also implemented well and significantly upgrades the disc. All in all, the EP gets into the auditory canals well and makes you happy in the long run. One can only hope that the Viennese will not wait another twelve years until the next release. «Reborn» is exciting from beginning to end and at the same time refreshingly different. Welcome back!

Tracklist:

1. Reign Supreme
2. Shadow in the Dark
3. Lord of Lies
4. This is WAR
5. Ministry of Thoughts
6. Shut up!!!

[rwp-review id=»0″]