Tuesday 6 September 2016

SUMA - The Order Of Things (Album Review)


Release date: October 11th 2016. Label: Argonauta Records and Init Records - CDs, Throne Records – Vinyl and Tartarus Records - Cassette. Format: Cassette/CD/DD/Vinyl

The Order Of Things – Tracklisting

The Sick Present
Bait for Maggots
R P A
Being and/or Nothingness
Education for Death
Disorder of Things
The Greater Dying

Band Members:

E
J
P
R

Review:

SUMA return with their first album in six years and it’s an album that comes with a heavy expectation. Soma’s blend of Doom/Stoner Metal has progressed into a bleaker style of Sludge/Post-Metal. Their new album –The Order Of Things – is perhaps SUMA’s most progressive and forward thinking album to date. The album feels like a statement on the modern world. Or just what SUMA think of the world since they’ve been away for the last few years or so.

Opening track – The Sick Present – is an instrumental ambient song with SUMA merging distorted soundclips that opens the album to a loud wall of noise. It has a cold depressing feel to it as the band show you what to expect for the next hour or so.

Second track – Bait For Maggots – sees SUMA bringing familiar progressive riffs and sounds seen on past releases though the band deliver a harsher style of sludge/post-metal delivery. The harsh soundscapes and vocals leave the listener with a cold and desolate feeling. The instrumental work is relentless from the start as SUMA unleash fast-paced riffs buried under a ton of Sludge/Post-Metal brutality.

Third Track – RPA – is another nine-minute plus epic where SUMA build upon layers of distorted noise before adding elements of heavy ambient doom. SUMA return to their earlier Stoner Metal sound for the first few moments of this song as they add a vintage psychedelic feel to their music. The song soon returns to the distorted sludge/post-metal sounds from the opening two tracks. The vocals can be very hard to understand to listen to as the instrumental work is the main focus here. This song feels SUMA were influenced by YOB and Neurosis as RPA has a similar style and structure those two bands are known for. The final ninety seconds of RPA is one of the standout moments of the album as SUMA create drone based noises that merge Doom and Psych riffs with a heavy Sludge based groove.

The next part of the album sees SUMA go under a minor transformation of sorts. Drone becomes the main backdrop for SUMA to build their music upon. The haunting soundclips that appear on Being And or Nothingness offer perhaps some of the bleakest moments on the album.

SUMA return to their normal Progressive Doom/Sludge Metal sounds on the final three songs – Education For Death, Disorder Of Things and The Greater Dyinjg. It’s quite a challenge to listen to these songs as SUMA create moments of pure terrifying Doom with the distorted noises and vocals being very hard to understand. The production is intense from the start. It has to be as SUMA need this platform to preach their nightmarish based sounds.

The Order Of Things is a complex and challenging album to listen to. It’s not as accessible as their previous albums but it’s perhaps their most defining work to date. My final thoughts is that The Order Of Things is an album that not only deserves your undivided attention but it ultimately demands it.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Barbara at NeeCee Agency for the promo. Argonauta Records and Init Records are releasing CDs, Throne Records are releasing Vinyl and Tartarus Records are releasing Cassette. All from October 11th 2016.

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