Release Date: December 13th 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD
III - Track Listing:
1. Alyssa (5:50)
2. IPCRESS (5:40)
3. SETI3 (1:39)
4. Shadow of Antiope (5:10)
5. Eta Carinae (6:48)
6. Apophis (5:10)
7. SETI4 (0:47)
8. Cygnus (3:40)
9. Enceladus (6:44)
Members
Amado Ventura: Bass
Hector Mojena: Drums
Chris Salazar: Guitar
Review
Heavy Instrumental Space Rockers SUMO return with their third length album imaginatively titled “III” where the band continue their deep musical exploration into the far reaches of Post-Rock, Cosmic Rock, Shoegaze, Stoner Rock and Psych Rock sounds with a rich Progressive Rock flair appearing along the way. SUMO develop and orchestrate a rich Sludge Rock heavy direction which allows III to be superbly heavy when the time calls for this with sublime guitars that’s quite familiar for fans of music who follow the Florida Heavy Rock scene.
WIth inspiration from bands such as HUM, TORCHE, Pelican, Russian Circles, The Cure and Mogwai with SUMO creating a record that has an effortless amount of aggression, energy and melody combining for an action packed story that’s helped along by interesting choice of soundbytes and samples. The opening tracks of Alyssa and IPCRESS both skate around the dynamics of technicalities of Post Rock before joining creative forces with other areas of music for a sound that’s both tranquil and destructive with a gloomy sense of Space Rock melodies becoming quite cold hearted in places but always wholly original.
SUMO delivers haunting Ambient sounds and synths along the way which gives a Drone based quality on the experimental parts of the album. This appears in the most unexpected of places before SUMO delves into another area of music which feels like the song remains unopened and unanswered but maybe that's the point in certain cases especially with tracks such as IPCRESS and SETI3. That’s one of the highlights of the album with III not offering all the available answers and allowing the listener to draw up their own conclusions.
The album can also be quite uplifting which you’ll experience within the opening moments of the standout fourth track Shadow Of Antiope. There are echoes of Pelican and TORCHE running throughout this track but SUMO are still in full driving control with the excellent use of soundclips adding to the creative narrative of the story. The stop/start sludgy guitars have a slight Electro Rock beat to them with a subtle Psych Rock flavour keeping everything grounded.
SUMO opt for a cerebral style of Post-Rock with a Post-Doom outlook that becomes dominated by a Progressive Rock vibe which fully takes effect across tracks such as: Eta Carinae, Apophis and Enceladus that offer the perfect and winning combination of abstract extended instrumental jams with a free flowing CINEMATIC ROCK attitude.
SUMO have teamup with ex-TORCHE bassist Jonathan Nuñez who recorded, mixed and co-produced the album and I’m becoming a huge fan of Jonathan’s studio work thanks to his recent collaborations with ORBITER and RESTLESS SPIRIT. Jonathan works wonders yet again here but allowing SUMO the chance to develop their own fascinating and brilliantly heavy sound that ultimately leaves you wanting to hear more.
III is a grand musical adventure from SUMO that masters the fine art of blending Post-Rock harmonies with the heavier and aggressive moments of Doom, Sludge, Stoner and everything else in between. THis allows III to be ranked as one of the standout instrumental records of the year.
Words by Steve Howe
III will be available to buy on Digital Download from Friday 13th December 2024.
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