I love the element of surprise, especially when it comes to music. However, due to the fact that I’m such a big fan of so many styles, I’m rarely caught off guard when multi-genre’s clash to form an experimental project that’s worth listening to. On occasion though, there have been encounters that weren’t meant to be and are better left alone and unheard of. However, there are times when everything just clicks and the songwriting is beyond captivating and the emotional charge cannot be matched. A project like this that has recently caught my attention is Sun Addicted Family. Auspiciously blending genres such as black metal, shoe-gaze, ambient, post-metal, and space rock, Sun Addicted Family seamlessly ties all of these together with masterful songwriting and with such strong emotion, you’ll find yourself listening to their debut album, ‘Solar Dreams’ over and over again.
The audacious album opener, “Solar”, fuses in haunting ambient keys, drum pads and strumming guitars right from the start. Distant clean vocals can be heard for a few bars before a powerful guitar riff forces its way in the mix. The synth arrangements have a strong shoe-gaze feel in this track, as it blissfully adds a nice layer of ambience throughout the whole song. At around the four and a half minute mark, the speed picks back up, with some black metal screams and wonderful melodic riffs. “Signals” is a slower, looming track with exquisitely layered keys that match the melody of the distorted guitar riffs rather well. The inaudible, harsh vocals are like an additional instrument in this track, and sound great in the spots they are added. The main riff is mesmerizing and you will find yourself drifting off into otherworldly places. The last minute of this song is one of my favorite moments on the album. “Orbit” is a ten minute instrumental track that showcases the atmospheric side of Sun Addicted Family. Leaning heavily on ambient tones and elongated drones, it is full of melodic and impassioned moments that will draw you in from the opening sound and will fill you with copious amounts of emotional feelings. At around the seven minute mark, when the clean keyboard notes begin to play, you will again be whisked away, as this section is so beautiful to listen to. “Levitate” begins with a soft, clean guitar riff, complimented with a drum pad sound. Soon, a grandiose keyboard arrangement fills the atmosphere, providing a majority of the melody. We are also graced with more clean vocals that have a distant & dreamy sound. At about the halfway mark, the atmospheric keyboards fade away, leaving a basic guitar and keyboard sound. However, this is just a preamble to more black metal style vocals and post-metal rhythms as they pummel their way into the song. The final song on the album, “Luna” begins with great atmospheric keyboard tones and then a full on post-metal onslaught begins. The harsh vocals have a very eerie & distant feeling to them, especially when combined with the melodic styling of the music. At about the four minute mark, the music temporarily calms to a relaxing guitar riff and a memorable drum beat before picking up for one final sonic assault.
‘Solar Dreams’ is a fantastic debut album by Sun Addicted Family and it’s apparent right from the beginning, they aren’t afraid to take chances, nor are they holding anything back. No genre seems to be off limits and no form of music is safe, as it all can be manipulated and fused into an experimental and super emotional track that only Sun Addicted Family can produce. This has turned out to be one of my favorite albums to listen to so far this year and I highly recommend this for anyone that loves ambient music and metal and who also has an open mind. Please show your support for this exceptional artist and download ‘Solar Dreams’ from the link below.
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