EXISTENCE

What a surprise. As you know the last release had a dark-progressive-metal vein but now they decided to dispense with this "dark" and produced a top-class prog-metal cd. Less is sometimes more and so the new orientation proves to be a lucky pull.

I like those soft and melodic vocal lines, appearing this time, by the singer and drummer Nico Knappe more than those Death-Metal vocals, which occured cumulative on the debut album "Swanlike" but were left out totally on this album.

The style is a mixture of Opeth (but without the death metal growls) and Pain of Salvation. The Cd is a concept album, driven by genious lyrics and building up an incredible atmosphere. Through the concept every song comes shallow regarded across as they would be the same but if you listen to the cd more often and if you deeply pay attention to every song you will notice the differences and you will discover the brilliancy of the cd.

I hadn't ever thought that such an amazing piece of work could come from Germany, but as it seems the music suprises me again and again. This Cd and Dark Suns belong to my absolute favourites and I can highly recommend it to anyone out there!

This album is as wonderful, beautiful and stunning as difficult. I first heard it when they supported Pain of Salvation in Krakow and I thought: "Hey, these guys are really good!". I bought their CD immediately. After all that I saw, I guess, I still wasn't prepared well enough for the big emotional kick this album gives. Here you can find everything that progmetal requiers to be called a Masterpiece. I must admit, that I needed to listen to it a few times very thoroughly to understand its potential and beauty but it is certainly worth it. For every progmetal fan, especially for those with a poetic vein on a darker note.

Another band I discovered on this site... "Existence" sounds like a mix of mid period Anathema ("Judgement" in particular), mellow Opeth ("Damnation"), Katatonia (for the dark atmosphere), but in a more progressive (and maybe heavier) way. It takes quite a bit of listens to discover all the subtilities on this album... especially to get used to the constant rhythm changes and dissonances that appear here and there in the middle of melodic passages. The album is written as a concept album divided in three parts (or three "allegories"). Strangely, the songs have been reorganized so that the first three parts of "allegory II" (from "Anemone" till "Gently Bleeding") have been pushed after the last two parts, but the music seems to flow better that way...

"Zero" is more an intro to the album - a short mimimalistic track with spoken lyrics. "A Slumbering Portrait" really launches the album on a heavy note - the track is really short too (only 2 minutes) with a mix of powerful vocals and whispers (which seem to replace the parts where growled vocals would have been used - a brilliant idea more dark metal bands should follow). "The Euphoric Sense" is another heavy track with a catchy riff - very reminiscent of recent Katatonia work. "Her And The Element" combines mellow acoustic passages with darker but heavier moments - very much Opeth like (on the heavy side), but without the growled vocals. "Daydream" is the most mellow track on this album - starts with piano and whispers, then acoustic guitar takes over with gentle vocals (anyone who has listened to Opeth's "Damnation" will see the visible similarities here). "Anemone" sees the return of the heavier side - here the riffs are quite aggressive. "You, A Phantom Still" is the first epic on this album - starts with dreamy keyboards, then the heavy guitars kick in... but mellow acoustic passages are still present. "Gently Bleeding" starts with a nice acoustic line, but it turns very heavy quickly (distorted guitar, double bass, harsher vocals...). "Abiding Space" is the other mellow track on this album - and the one that reminds me the most of Anathema's recent albums. "Patterns Of Oblivion" is the second epic of the album - an amazing track that starts with that slow, dark, heavy doomy riff before that beautiful acoustic part (with those piano notes in the background, and even female whispers)... the heavy side makes a strong return around the half of the song with really powerful vocals full of rage and anger (still without the need of growling...). "One Endless Childish Day" is the longest and most complex song on this album - piano/vocals for the first minute, then the main theme for another four minutes (crazy rhythm changes and dissonances in the melody here), then a mellow acoustic part (which seems to be a completely different song), and finally a heavier part that grows and grows more powerfully until that (sort of) growl around the 10 minute mark launching the crazy dissonant outro.

Rating: 96/100 (5 stars - highly recommended)

The album I have listened to most over the last 12 months and one which I believe will be referred to in years to come as a classic of its genre. I found it operatic and true theatre as Dark Suns takes you on a rollercoaster ride of human emotion, feeling the angst of the human condition, one minute punching you in the face with staccato drums and bass, then a healing balm, the weird and the wonderful, strange and familiar, light and darkness, heavy stormy then peaceful (a little like life itself really - existence). This is no guilty pleasure. Possibly one of the truest musical encactments of the authors intent overall as an album, the first class musicianship fuses together a soundscape, spectrum of experiences and this album feels like the work of a band that spent its formative years building itself up to this seminal piece of art. There are many great albums but few could lay claim to the creative input, blood, sweat, tears and consistent excellence of this. The five stars have been used sparingly. I spent 12 months considering it. I don't think that there is a note or a lyric on this album that wasn't meant to be there. Buy it if you don't have it already and enjoy playing it loud and often.

Dark Suns - Existence

I was positively surprised when I first discovered this band in 2005, just after the release of their second album "Existence". I read somewhere that this band originated from the black metal scene, so I was expecting some sort of Opeth-hybrid. So the 'breathiness' of this record totally caught me off-guard!

The depressing opening track Zero, which basically only includes dark ambiances and spoken word, sets the tone for the next 75+ minutes. The music included here is a mixture of Opeth-like metal and Floydian soundscapes. Mind you though: with the exception of one short fragment in the final track NO growling/grunt vocals are included on "Existence".

It's true that fans of heavier (metal) music will find something to their liking on this album, yet, unlike that other band Opeth, the music here is lesser based on repetition of form (i.e. the guitar riffs) and more on experimentation and the creation of constantly shifting segments of music. This makes the music more appealing to long-time fans of the symphonic rock movement. In a way you could compare Dark Suns to Pain of Salvation: they both are most definitely metal, but they also send out various signals of progression, experimentation and luckily no stagnation.

I have been searching for this one for some time and I finally found it ! DARK SUNS are from Germany and play a dark and heavy brand of metal. PAIN OF SALVATION is who they reminded me of the most although there were lots of OPETH moments and ANATHEMA references as well. Not a bad blend if you ask me. You can add KATATONIA to the reference list as well. "Existence" is a concept album about life from birth ("Zero") to death ("One Endless Childish Day"). The lyrics deal with the emotions that can be experienced during our fragile existence. The drummer is also the vocalist and wrote all the songs as well.

"Zero" is a short intro track consisting of a thunderstorm and spoken words. "A Slumbering Portrait" is another short song at 2 1/2 minutes. This one is about the innocence and hope of a child. This song really thunders into existence with a heavy soundscape. Great bass ! "The Euphoric Sense" features vocals that are very much in the style of Daniel from POS. After 3 minutes a pastoral section arrives that sounds so much like OPETH. Nice. 4 minutes in we get a good guitar melody with heaviness to follow. "Her And The Element" is the fourth amazing song in a row ! The heavy and mellow passages are contrasted beautifully. An incredibly heavy passage 2 1/2 minutes in and the synths are perfect. "Daydream" features piano melodies for almost 2 minutes before it is replaced with guitar. Drums and piano join in as the sound gets louder 2 1/2 minutes in. Vocals arrive a minute later. "Anemone" has a great passage 1 1/2 minutes in that is very POS-like as the moods change quickly. This one is heavy. TOOL-like drumming later as well as piano melodies.

"You,A Phantom Still" has a keyboard led 1 1/2 minute intro before bass and heavy drums take over. The vocals are again POS-like as the song turns pastoral. The tempo and mood continues to change. Scalding guitar 6 1/2 minutes in followed by more amazing drumming. "Gently Bleeding" becomes heavy with some great synth work. Spoken words 2 minutes in. The song calms right down before becoming heavy again. "Abiding Space" has an atmospheric soundscape before the drums kick in before 2 minutes. It all sounds so good with the synths and vocals 3 minutes in. "Patterns Of Oblivion" is when our subject is now old. It opens heavy and slow leading to a female vocal and piano section. 5 minutes in it gets very heavy and emotional. "One Endless Childish Day" has reserved vocals and piano until it is crumpled up by a heavy soundscape. I love the sound before 2 minutes. Another great soundscape 4 minutes in. Beautiful acoustic guitar a couple of minutes later. The lyrics and music 8 minutes in are amazing. Oh my God !

My five favourite songs are "Her And The Element" , "Anemone" , "You, A Phantom Still" , "Patterns Of Oblivion" and "One Endless Childish Day". This is a dark and heavy masterpice !

The sticker on the front of my CD says this album is a "Masterpiece of progressive emotional metal" for fans of Opeth, PoS, Porcupine Tree and Anathema. The words "progressive metal" I can go with, the words "masterpiece" and "emotional" I will have to take some issue with. These guys are very good musicians who have come up with plenty of nice moments but I have to say my eyes have glazed over long before the 78 minute length has been exhausted. They clearly are PoS devotees, sounding like a tribute band in places. But they do not have enough good material to sustain the punishing length and it becomes very clear this is no "Remedy Lane." And while the band nearly has the chops of PoS, the vocalist is no Daniel G and that hurts. Love him or hate him, Daniel's incredible vocals are part of what makes PoS and Dark Suns lacks that. Their vocals are perfectly pleasant but they are rather tentative and only average. They are straight (non-growl) vocals for those who are wondering about that. Overall the album has a somewhat cold and unemotional feel to me which is not necessarily bad but I find it ironic that they use the word "emotional" to describe their sound. The music is ambitious but the sound is detached to me.

Let's look to the positive. The highlight of the album is the sequence of "Daydream" into "Anemone." It starts with gentle solo piano which is a nice breather from the heavy majority. Soon some clean guitar chords are picked with some gentle keys behind. Half way through some vocal whispers. Drums and bass come in and piano returns for a nice mellow rock section and a good electric solo. Nice stuff. It bleeds into "Anemone" which starts like a PoS/PT cross but soon enters great sections of gut heavy rock that is choppy and dramatic, with soaring changes all over. It continues to build paying demanding constant attention. Spine tingling! On the down side, other tracks just get bogged down in sameness, crying out to the producer to sneak into the studio after dark for an edit job. Sadly, it never happened and you will be able to complete your college thesis in just 4 spins of this CD.

This is a good metal album that I'd recommend to PoS fans. I'm just saying that before they unleash another 78 minute album, I'd suggest they shoot for putting together an awesome 48 minute album. Comes with a very thick lyric booklet that also looks just like a PoS booklet.

Dark Suns second album Existence should be the kind of album that I love. It´s got all of the elements that I really like in prog metal. Clean singing, intricate heavy monumental riffs in the vein of Opeth and Katatonia and to top it of songs with experimental structures. The only problem is that when I finnish listening to Existence I´m not especially excited. I think Existence is a good album, but nothing more, which is a bit disappointing to me, as I had expected more from Dark Suns. Dark Suns debut album Swanlike was also a very mediocre affair and it was almost an Opeth clone. This time other influences are also present in Dark Suns music but I still think Opeth is the main influence. The swedish band Katatonia have obviously influenced Dark Suns too though with more experimental post rock structures in the songs.

The musicians are very good, so there is nothing to say here. Lead singer Nico Knappe has a pleasant voice and his accent is not a problem. It´s hardly hearable even though Dark Suns is a german band and the accent can sometimes be a problem with bands from Germany.

The music is a mix of heavy guitars and more mellow post rock passages. There are no growls on this album. Dark Suns left them behind on their debut album Swanlike which means the doom/ death influences are not as evident on Existence. The tempo is still slow to mid though. One of the things that irritate me a bit about Existence is the omnipresent use of keyboards throughout the album. This is what Opeth does so well. They use the keyboard sparsely. Dark Suns use it all the time, which means I get tired of it midway through the ( way too) long album. It´s just there in the background the whole time. Nothing spectacular it just gets on my nerves after a while. The songs are generally very long, and lots of things happen in every song which is really great and I´m entertained the whole time.

The sound quality is good, but I don´t like the production. I find it lifeless and quite frankly it leaves me cold. This is an aquired taste of course so judge yourself.

This is a good album though and I´ll rate it 3 stars. It´s not excellent in my book even though it has all the characteristica I normally enjoy.

Dark Suns is an underground band even amongst progressive metal, which is a shame because (as you can tell by the ratings for 'Existence') they beat most of the albums on the market. This breed of complex, fluid progressive music fuses a variety of influences seamlessly: Opeth, for their dynamic, fluctuating song structures, Green Carnation for the claustrophobic atmosphere, Pain of Salvation for their emotional authenticity and style, and plenty more. It's quite a blend, pulled off with consistent, effortless grace on every song, and you'd be doing yourself a favour by picking this one up.

Apart from their immaculate musicianship and appreciation of songs as SONGS, rather than opportunities to show off, Dark Suns has a creative mind for concepts. This album follows the journey of one man's life, from birth to death, as he struggles to understand the world. It's something of a loose theme, but it's strong enough to keep the album together as a single piece while placing emphasis on each individual song. So whether you want to listen to a particular track or the whole eighty-minute voyage in one go, 'Existence' promises to be an unforgettable experience.

So, to look at it song by song:

With ZERO, 'Existence' begins with a two-minute ambient track, a short keyboard-led tune with the distant sounds of children playing and falling rain to ease you into the album's story. Niko Knappe begins narrating around halfway through, and what he's saying is very poetic, too. That's one of the many things going for this album - a fresh approach to lyrics. You'll find hidden segments throughout the album, and the lyrics booklet even has unspoken parts in brackets that give you a better idea of what the song is about.

Anyway, don't get too relaxed, because this quiet opener gives way to A SLUMBERING PORTRAIT with a bang. Opening with an explosive chord, this brief piece doesn't let up until the last few seconds. It's an unusual track, void of melody and very heavy, so it might take a while to grow on you. Took months for me.

THE EUPHORIC SENSE is the album's first 'normal' song, and it's quite an adrenaline rush too. The fiery riffs and upbeat atmosphere conveys a sense of... well, euphoria, and it couldn't feel more genuine. Switching between an uplifting chorus and hard-hitting instrumental sections, it's a standard track, but nonetheless a standard track done exactly right. It's the sort of song that would appear on the radio in a perfect society, but instead we get production-line pop, and what can you do.

Entering the song's darker twin, HER AND THE ELEMENT, you'll find yourself in slightly new territory, still upbeat but with a new, more enigmatic atmosphere. This song bounces between a heavy, catchy riff, a deceptively calm verse and a chorus that balances the two elements. It builds up to a climatic instrumental section that summarises the band's style: short, to the point, but awesome.

Throwing the album in a completely different direction again, DAYDREAM settles down with a dreamy keyboard melody that encompasses the first half of the track (called Fall: A Sleep). This isn't a complex piece, but rather a very dark, very dreamy part of the album. An acoustic guitar introduces the second half (Sleep: A Fall) where Niko's gentle voice drifts from quiet singing to whispering the perxplexing lyrics, which sound almost like a riddle. The sounds of a tuning radio lead this song into...

ANEMONE, which contrasts a dark, night mood with a more active, daytime atmosphere. This is what you get when you cross the fiery flow of 'Her and the Element' with 'Daydream,' as the instrumental bridge manages to meld heavy chords with an atmospheric acoustic passage in the way that Opeth made famous. Here, the lyrics start to take a more sinister tone, as the narrator contemplates the superficiality of our lives ('Tell me, how can I smile when there's emptiness behind my mask?') And as it suddenly drops into a quieter close, the first half of the album begins and the second, far more progressive side begins.

To begin this half, YOU, A PHANTOM STILL opens with a stunning keyboard solo that sounds like a full- fledged symphony orchestra. Beautiful! Already, this song shows a lot of promise, and as the solo fades out and blasts into a hard riff, Niko introduces the darker side of the album's theme with the line, 'Will you ever see the blood of children sticking in your mud? Observing their world going insane...' This is genuine poetry. 'You, a Phantom Still' proves to be the most Opeth-esque track on the album, and also the best in my opinion, as it fluctuates seamlessly from quiet acoustic passages to memorable, evil- sounding riffs. To close this eleven-minute journey the opposite of the way it began, the riff from the chorus plays over a woman shouting in the background, conveying a really sinister mood. The song doesn't stay the same for more than a minute, and it's a progressive masterpiece.

GENTLY BLEEDING utilises the same kind of narration to the end of the song, though this time it's Niko, and his screams and barely coherent vocals really give impact to the distressing tone of the song. It starts off with an innocent buildup but gets heavy fast, and the lyrics don't come in until the hard-hitting instrumental section is over, halfway through.

It comes to a close suddenly with a peaceful, soft beat that leads into ABIDING SPACE, the album's final ballad. This one has particularly beautiful lyrics. The only problem with it is that the drums are a little too disruptive for such a quiet track; the way I see it, this was an opportunity for Dark Suns to use a more innovative tribal style, but they overlooked it. All the same, this is a very peaceful track, a perfect contrast to the doomish atmosphere of what is to come in...

PATTERNS OF OBLIVION, the climax of 'Existence' and the second of three epics. This is both heavy and atmospheric, and was my favourite track for a while. You can hear it on the Progarchives radio, so give it a listen if you haven't already. Once again, this one switches between heavy and light passages, though the mournful mood remains consistent throughout. In fact it's so well done, most doom metal doesn't convey this sense of despair and desperation. A highlight on an album that is a highlight in itself.

Bringing to a close the introspective journey of 'Existence' is the thirteen-minute epic ONE ENDLESS CHILDISH DAY. This one comes in three distinct parts, the first actually being a low point in the album because it sounds clumsy and clugs on for a little too long. However, as the counter reaches 4:46, the acoustic section begins, and it was worth the previous dragged-out segment. A wonderful catchy tune progresses the song and builds up that dreamy atmosphere Dark Suns is so talented at creating. There's a reprise of the children playing from 'Zero,' which leads the narrator to realise the nature of his life, that he is 'a traveller, lost in a recurring spiral of [his] own existence!' With this, the track launches into its slow and heavy third part. It brings the album to a close with a grand finale: a reprise of the riff from 'A Slumbering Portrait,' played at about a third the speed. That's something of an easter egg, because one of the lines from that song was 'In my beginning is my end.' This slow and dramatic exit winds down, with sound clips from other songs making cameos (such as the first lyrics from 'You, a Phantom Still.') It finishes with a single note from a choir, symbolises the narrator's death, and brings to a close one of the masterpiece albums of progressive metal.

So if I haven't sold it to you yet, I don't know what will. If you consider yourself a fan of progressive metal or just progressive music - or, hell, of MUSIC - you should at least give 'Existence' a try. This is a gem that's not to be missed.

Entirely proficient and occasionally exciting brooding metal limited in its effectiveness by a lack of originality and flourishes which so punctuate bands which they are likely to be compared to.

Existence is, taken as a whole, a fairly typical release of the genre, but has some good things going for it. The atmosphere is dark, but not oppressive, and the songwriting fairly complex despite the somewhat laid-back tempo of many of the songs. Musicianship is about what one would demand of the genre-- which means proficient and aggressive playing, as well as highs and lows which is all but essential these days. Knappe's vocals are clean and smooth, with thoughtful phrasing and delivery.

So what's the problem?

There isn't anything here you can't hear somewhere else better; moreover, the repetitiveness of the band's playing here will probably make the listener numb by the half-way mark... not to mention by the end of this album's 78 minute length! There are no flashes of guitar virtuosity, complexity in rhythm or time changes, or demonstration of range in the vocals. The end effect is a bland palette of crunchy chugging and atmospherics which don't make much of an impact.

Still, for fans of bands like Pain of Salvation, Riverside, Anathema, etc., Existence does offer some interesting and familiar sounds-- just don't expect them to match what you might find here. There is definantly potential for excellence here, if Dark Suns can find their own voice.

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 2

Dark Suns first album was a clear Opeth clone and for this band to gain any real recognition they would need to develop a style of their own. This is something they have taken to heart because in th two years between Swanlike and Existence there has been a complete change in direction for their music.

The biggest change is that they have added a second major influence to the bands sound, that of Pain of Salvaton, and worked hard to merge that with the existing influece of Opeth. The result is an album that has the bleak, dark, melencholic atmospheres of Opeth mixed with the emotional delivery and content of Pain of Salvation, or at least that is the clear aim on here. The reality is that they seem to have just fallen short of attaining that perfect blend. The atmosphere is there and so is the amotion but neither mix to a fully compelling degree and as a result is that the album can be seen more as work in progress, a snapshot of where the band is developing from and too. I think the biggest reason for this is that the musical ideas on show here just seem to be stretched too far, motifs go one for too long and the impact that the band wanted is severly lessoned because of it .

Overall this isnt actually a bad album, there is plenty here to interest fans of progressive metal and there are numerous flashes of brilliance throughout the album, but there is also a case of too much music, not enough material as well that just drags down the experience of listening to it. Hilights for me are the extremely catchy The Euphoric Sense, a song that I can never seem to shake from my memory, and the perfectly executed You, A Phantome Still and Patterns of Oblivion. These last two songs are perfect examples of exactly what the band was trying to achieve here, an exquiset mix of atmosphere and emotion where the one feeds of the other. Unfortunatly there are a few lowlights to the album as well. Many of the shorter, earlier songs just feel unecessary to me and tracks 8 and 9 (Gently Bleeding and Abiding Space) are good but arent as fully realised as the aformenioned You, A Phantome Still and Patterns of Oblivion. The final track is the big let down though, the longest song on here but it really shouldnt have been, it distinctly needs to be cut down by about 4 minutes because it vastly outstays its welcome.

A decent album, and one that shows a band developing into being something different, but fails to meet the full expectations set upon it. No one song on here can be pinpointed as terrible for they all have moments of greatness, but only a few hold that throughout their length. In the end though, it would be the next album, Grave Human Genuine, that fully realises this bands potential. 3.5 stars.

Kudos to Dark Suns for changing their sound radically even before Opeth did! The band decided to lay even less focus on melodies and classic composition structure ending up in a pool of mistakenly unrelated moments. Music began being more atmospheric with a random feeling element, while also less memorable and maintaining the dark feeling. Perhaps a closer move to Katatonia this time? Let's also add "Tool" to the list of bands they must have heard! To be fair, the band also sounds more original now.

Rhythms are more complex, playful and more irregular. Clean vocals are sun almost everywhere and they are decent. Worth mentioning are softer and more accessible songs like "Daydream" that confirm band's versatility.

There are stronger and weaker moments - my only complaint is that the album is far too long and it could have been a stronger 50-minute album.