Release Date: July 21st 2023. Record Label: MNRK Heavy. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Desiderium: Tracklisting
Death Is The Beginning
Paramnesia
Pale Eyes
What A Way To Go
Hollow Visions
Flesh & Blood
Desiderium
Remnants
The Way Out
Members
Justin Sherrell - Guitar/Vocals
Phil SanGiacomo - Drums
Mike G - Bass
Review:
Desiderium is the new album from Progressive Sludge/Stoner Metallers Somnuri with the band taking a more fearless metallic approach with their music when compared to their acclaimed 2021 album. This time round Sonmuri feels inspired by heavy big hitters such as Mastodon, CAVE IN and Old Man Gloom. Perhaps more Post-Metal based with their winning blend of Psychedelic Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal still making fleeting appearances here and there.
Opening song Death Is The Beginning offers a more cerebral style of vocals with emotionally charged lyrics allowing the metallic grooves building to exciting levels of aggressive volumes with a Psychedelic Stoner flavour for the quieter moments. The vocals have a YOB and Mastodon flow to them when they switch between clean and harsh vocal styles. Somnuri conjure up menacing sounds out of thin air for modern style of Prog Metal with an emotionally charged atmosphere that serves the band superbly well for the rest of the album.
Second song Paramnesia forces Psychedelic Sludgy nightmarish surroundings with the harsh vocals soon giving way to a clearer delivery with both styles vying for the limelight. The instrumental work is technically impressive indeed and shows a more threatening style of music we haven’t experienced from the band. Somnu ri do move between harsher environments but the constant “Stoner” presence allows the band to capture sounds reminiscent of their last couple of albums. Though the harsh and violent mentality of the vocals may take long time fans a few moments to adjust to.
Third song Pale Eyes reminds me of early-era Mastodon with its Progressive beatdowns and muscular Sludgy sounds with mostly the vocals impressing the most. The song lasts under three minutes but Somnuri embraces a more Prog Sludge Metal atmosphere for this song and perhaps the rest of the album. The technical ability of Somnuri is something to behold yet again when the music switches to different styles of music they play here.
Fourth song What A Way To Go is another fast-paced offering with warped levels of Psych Rock/Metal buried under the noisy levels of Doomed Out Distortion. There’s a warped sense of Doom-Pop starting to shine on the album which Somnuri have used for previous releases. The instrumental work is frantic and chaotic but one that offers a ton of intense Sludge and Stoner grooves to lose yourself in. The lyrics are hip, smart and downright catchy so you can easily sing-along to your heart's content even when the harsh growls appear.
Fifth song Hollow Visions is a more emotionally charged track with that “Doom-Pop” creative flow moving into more bleak sounding areas of Doom Metal but there’s an intelligent style of uplifting Psych Metal or Post-Whatever sounds that make this my favourite song on the album and could have easily been included on their last album Nefarious Waves. Fans of Cave-In, Torche and YOB will no doubt enjoy this song the most. As the track uses similar sights and sonic based sounds those bands are known for but still allowing Somnuri to put their own creative stamp of authority as well.
The remainder of the album follows the similar complex and creative path as the first half with the meanest, heaviest, aggressive and catchiest grooves played on this part of the album especially on tracks such as: Flesh & Blood, Desidierium and The Way Out.
From a technical point of view, Desiderium is the better album compared to Nefarious Waves. However, I prefer Nefarious Waves to Desiderium by a small amount. As Nefarious Waves speaks to me more on an emotional level. Though, that doesn’t stop Desiderium being a thrilling and brilliantly satisfying album from Somnuri that’s helped along by first rate production values.
Somnuri are fastly becoming one of the best upcoming bands from the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal scene and with Desiderium it’s not hard to see why. This is simply another wonderful release from Somnuri who could end up becoming one of your new favourite bands.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Hold Tight PR for the promo.
Desiderium will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via MNRK Heavy from July 21st 2023.
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