The Sullen Route – Apocalyclinic Review

THE SULLEN ROUTE have ensured that while the drawn-out nature of the style still carries the tunes, there’s still enough going on to keep less-hardcore fans from falling asleep....

 

Released By : Solitude Productions

Genre : Doom/Death Metal

Link : http://www.myspace.com/thesullenroute

 

Line Up:

Elijah (Vocals, Guitar)

Serge (Guitar)

Alexis (Drums)

Daniel (Bass)

 

Tracklist:

1. Hysteria

2. Selfish I

3. Burial Ground

4. Cynoptic

5. Dune

6. Tonight’s Avenue

7. All In October

 

Firstly let me say that If you’re a big fan of THE SULLEN ROUTE’S previous debut album MADNESS OF MY OWN DESIGN are expecting much of the same this time around, you’re going to be very surprised. At its core this album is still classifiable as Doom Metal, but the band have all but scrapped the Death Metal influence found on the previous release and traded it in for a combination of chuggy Groove Metal riffage and an overall progressive nature.

Whether or not this is a good thing is obviously going to be up to personal affinities toward certain styles, but for me I have to say that I enjoyed this new album much more than their debut and this time around they really have brought something interesting to the table. As a lot of people that can’t get into most Doom Metal will tell you, the music is in general just way too slow and takes too long to go anywhere, but by adding the occasional chugging riff sections, THE SULLEN ROUTE have ensured that while the drawn-out nature of the style still carries the tunes, there’s still enough going on to keep less-hardcore fans from falling asleep.

As far as musicality goes the band have certainly progressed since the debut, and the guitars in tracks like HYSTERIA, DUNE and BURIAL GROUND excite me every time I listen to them. I still think that vocalist ELIJAH can seem a little out of element in the more cleanly sung (Note : not wimpy) section of the album, but when he cranks up the throat muscles for the more intense moments he is almost as good as anyone else in the game. The sound is helped along a little here too with a really, really good production that leaves nothing behind and has a really think bombastic sound without the muddy aftertaste that could have easily happened if the desk work hadn’t been taken care of so intimately.

All in all, APOCALYCLINIC is a vast improvement from the band’s debut, and now that they have carved out a more unique sound for themselves I’m really eager to here where they go from here… THE SULLEN ROUTE is definitely a band worth keeping an eye on.

Written By ZeeZee

Rating : 8/10

 

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