Thursday 3 December 2020

Bantha Rider - Binary Sunset Massacre (Album Review)


Release date: December 04th 2020. Label: Piranha Music. Format: CD/DD

Binary Sunset Massacre – Tracklisting

1.Binary Sunset Massacre
2.De Wanna Wanga
3.The Gamorrean
4.Boonta Eve
5.Sagittarius
6.Rancor's Delight
7.March of the Banthas
8.Pazuzu

Members

Art - Drums
Chris - Guitar
Bart - Bass

Review


Instrumental Doom/Stoner Metallers Bantha Rider are back with their debut full length album – Binary Sunset Massacre. This album arrives almost 4 years since the band released their debut EP. The band are influenced by the Criminal and Seedy Underworld of Star Wars mythology. The band adapt a purely Instrumental approach to bring their spaced out themes and ideas to life.

So what do we get with Binary Sunset Massacre. We get an album that is a darker version of Karma To Burn with slightly more Progressive sounds and riffs with a healthy dose of Post-Metal attitude allowing the band to stretch further into the realms of Doom Metal.

The album is quite action-packed and moving with different styles of music within the confinements of Stoner Rock with the band adding Desert Rock, Psych Rock and Fuzz Rock to the mix. The song titles are mostly named after certain things and events of Star Wars media and folklore. I only know certain things of Star Wars and I don’t consider myself an expert. There will be folks out there who will get a kick seeing the song titles and enjoying the powerful riffs the band have written here.

Everything is played VERY LOUD and I mean VERY LOUD. Especially when the heavier Desert Rock/Stoner Rock grooves take centre stage and provide a fast-paced journey that sound epic even for Han Solo when trying to break a certain “Parsec” speed record.

The instrumental work is ferocious and does remind myself of KARMA TO BURN in many ways and even PELICAN on the later stages of the song especially on March Of The Banthas and Pazuzu. (I’m assuming they called this song after the character from The Exorcist due to Max Von Sydow appearing in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Top marks for merging two different cinematic universes together).

Binary Sunset Massacre is a superbly entertaining album that pushes all the right buttons in providing the listener with a great collection of songs that will even appeal to people hate Star Wars. As the music is always moving forward onto the next hard-hitting riff and the album truly comes alive for myself when the band lose themselves within their own Psychedelic and Spaced Out Madness on songs such as: De Wanna Wanga, The Gamorrean, Rancor’s Delight, March Of The Banthas and Pazuzu.

It’s perhaps the final 3 songs where the band offer the most gloomiest and heaviest songs on the entire album and you’re thankful that J.J. Abrams is nowhere in sight to spoil even more of your precious Star Wars memories from your childhood.

Anyway, I digress. Binary Sunset Massacre is an absolute powerhouse of a record that deserves a moment of your time.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp