SWANLIKE

I generally don't like talking about one band by direct comparison to another, but Dark Suns debut album Swan Like is the closest sounding album to Opeth, circa Still Life, that I have ever heard. It uses the light and dark musical shading that Opeth does so effectively that its going to be hard to escape the comparison.

The biggest difference is that Dark Suns doesn't make quite as much use of acoustic guitar preferring to rely on a much cleaner, smoother guitar sound to juxtapose with the heavy distortion of the metal parts. However, this isn't a bad thing at all as Dark Suns pull off the style very well and add a flavour all of their own by generally playing in a slow, almost doom metal style. The big surprise on here actually comes from the closing instrumental, In Silent Harmony II, that is actually highly reminiscent of maudlin of the Well's shorter instrument parts like Interlude 1 through 4, only using electric rather than acoustic guitar. It makes for a very interesting end to the album but I'm not too sure whether it fits in well with the rest of it. Technically, all the members of the band are quite strong, though they don't to flaunt it, with the drummer Niko Knappe being the stand out, though his vocals aren't exactly great. The bonus track, Suffering, makes for a nice addition, though being recorded 5 years before this album it has a much more raw feeling to it. Highly recommended to fans of Opeth, especially if My Arms, Your Hearse and Still Life are two of your favourites from them.