Album Review: Six Months of Sun – Creatures (Smoke Records / Urgence Disk)

‘Creatures’ is the new album from Six Months of Sun, the instrumental stoner metal trio from Geneva. It will be released on December 6th, 2024, via Smoke Records and Urgence Disk.

It has actually been around six years of gloom, because that’s how long it has been since we have had new music from Six Months of Sun. Happily, the clouds have finally parted, and figurative rays of sunshine have arrived, but it comes with weighty intensity that creates feelings of anxiety. There’s danger here, and it comes from instrumental heaviness that is highly inventive and consistently interesting.

Now, while it does start off strongly with Zaratan, especially as this opening track has unusual atmospheric sounds, the album really gets going with Shai-Hulud. This is a beast of a track, showcasing the immense power that lies behind Six Months of Sun’s guitars and drum combination, but also showing how creative they can be as it shimmers and pulses in vibrant ways. It’s one of the strongest tracks on the album overall, yet, there is so much high quality music still to come.

There’s Gevaudan, a track that effortlessly flows from groovy melodies to unstable heaviness with progressive twists. Then there’s Vatnagedda, with its thick rhythms and innovate middle twist on the rocking formula. Before Ningen and Jersey Devil offer up even more variety in Six Months of Sun’s heavy sound. The former seems like its going in a more doom-orientated direction at first but ends up becoming one of the grooviest stoner-infused tracks of all. Whereas the latter is a fast-paced head banger with excitability running through it like a thick and bulbous vein.

The middle portion of the album will confirm to most that this album is quality through and through and Six Months of Sun have found such inventive ways to keep it varied and interesting. However, should you need a little bit more convincing, the latter part of the album has exactly what you need.

Following a short piece of melody and atmosphere with Dobhar Chu, Six Months of Sun really flex their progressive muscles with the following Wendigo. A staggering showcase of how their instrumental heavy sound ebbs and flows, how they can tell a story without words, and how all the instruments can come together for a cacophony of noise that is unbelievably infectious. Another super strong effort and a tough one to follow, which does mean Dahu isn’t quite the impressive finale you’d hope it is, but its quality is still undeniable. All because of the synths. Amazing.

Welcome back Six Months of Sun, we’ve all missed you.

Six Months of Sun – Creatures Track Listing:

1. Zaratan
2. Shai-Hulud
3. Gevaudan
4. Vatnagedda
5. Ningen
6. Jersey Devil
7. Dobhar Chu
8. Wendigo
9. Dahu

Links

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