SUNPATH

It's been a while since we heard from Sunpath, album-wise at least. However, in January of this year, Rafael contacted me and sent me a copy of their latest effort. Unfortunately, I'm not as active on ProgArchives as I used to be, so my review got delayed for a couple of months - for which I owe Rafael and friends an apology, which is hereby offered.

The album, or EP, is suddenly another step for the band - but I'm not certain it really is a step forward. Where the band really grew from their debut Acoustic Aphasia to Night Dream Call, in the sense that they developed their own sound and moved away from Sieges Even influences, I see less improvement from that last album to this Under Ice.

Where the opening (and title) track Under Ice immediately attracts attention with a strong riff, it is also the only track that has this effect on me. The continuous movement through metal riffs and more 'symphonic' parts is well executed (and yet again a bit late Sieges Even like) and shows that we have five fine musicians in this band. The screaming vocals in the metal parts also show that Ralf really is a great vocalist with various qualities. The track is followed by This is the River. Again, a song that starts out as a symphonic rock piece (without keyboards that does require something on the part of the guitarists!). Half way, we move to metalland again, according to one of the guitars. However, somehow the guitar seems out of place in that spot, because the rest of the band tries to keep up the more melodic part. It creates tention in an interesting way, but I keep feeling it is (only just) not right. The guitar solo later in this 7 minute track fits more nicely, but this track may be an example of trying a little too hard. You never know the Truth the is a track that is more in the vein of the longer, more atmospheric tracks that Marillion created in their first three albums with Steve Hogarth - not musically, but where the feeling is concerned. At first the track seems a bit boring, but it grows on you after a few listens. Not the best, not the worst on the album. Father is another example of an attempt at a more symphonic track without keys, that alternates between that mode and full metal riffs. This track keeps giving me the feeling that something is missing. The idea is not bad, musicianship is ok, but the song misses something that really gives it an edge. Imagine Shadow Gallery's Queen in the City of Ice without the keyboards and the backing vocals, to get the idea: the base is there, but something is missing, which prevents it from being the 10 minute epic it could be. The closing track, Wonders, makes up for that a bit, the sound of the picked (acoustic) guitar that kicks in every once in a while does bring that edge. A pity it can't cover for what I miss in the rest of the album.

Overall, I still think Sunpath is a great band, with great musicians. With jobs on the side I fear the full potential will not show easily when it comes to compositions - no matter how skilled these musicians are on their instruments - economy can kill art I guess.

4(+), maintaining to be fresh.

P.S. Not so bad for experimental review, huh ?

My expectations were high on this second Sunpath album, since I liked their debut and the band announced that this one would be less Sieges Even like. Overall, this is definitely true, and it makes the band stronger than they were already. Some of the potential that could be heard in Acoustic Aphasia is showing through now.

Most striking is that Ralf Kierspel has grown as a singer. He brought his experience from Picture This when he joined in 2007, but now his voice has really been integrated with the band's music - the past two years were definitely well spent! I have to add here that the band has grown as composers as well.

Still there is some room for improvement, some of the longer tracks stay in the same mode a little too long. The 12 minute Names in the Mirror almost had me fooled because of that. It starts as a rock/metal track of the verse/chorus type. After six minutes, it goes into an Eloy (Silent Cries) like, almost symphonic mode. That could have come earlier, I had almost turned away from the track when that happened. I am glad I didn't though, despite this it is a very likeable track.

The best tracks on this album for me are easy to identify. Hometown, a track that starts out very quiet with vocals and guitar, and never becomes really heavy. It has a perfect build up, it's well sung and has great bass work as well. Second is the title track Night Dream Call, which is possibly the heaviest on the album. It shows that the band is capable of putting together a true metal wall of sound, without loosing melody, and interleaving that with more melodic, less 'brutal' parts. A small surprise in the form of a grunted verse, by Claudio Enzler of Stuttgart's death metal pride Sacrificium, is included as a bonus.

Third is Holyrood Park is worth mentioning, because it both illustrates how the band has grown composition wise, and what Ralf Kierspel is capable off as a vocalist. It's almost as strong as Hometown, mixing metal with more mellow rock and varied vocals. In some of the verses, there's even a hint of Jim Kerr in the latter.

Apart from these, Marianna is worth mentioning. A very powerful (not the same as heavy!) and well performed track, with verses taken from the poem Marianna by Andrew Lord Tennyson (written in 1830).

All in all, I believe Sunpath have made a big step forwards with this album. They can grow further, but this one beats Acoustic Aphasia for sure. I'll be ready for the next one, and maybe we'll see a joined gig with Feedforward in Amsterdam one day. It's still a pity the previous one got cancelled after Feedforward's drummer broke his arm.

After a turbulent few years which saw a number of members come and go, German prog metal band Sunpath released this their debut album in 2007. At present, the album is available for free download or CD purchase via the band's website, the band having taken the bold step of releasing the album themselves.

With a line up of twin guitars and vocals, but no keyboards, the opportunities to vary the sound are perhaps limited. There are however six tracks here four of which are over 6 minutes long, including a three part closing track running to some 13 minutes.

The opening "Intromental" (get it?!) quickly directs us to the band's long suit, through some melodic and virtuoso lead guitar. This segues into the 9½ minute "Pictures of illusion", the intro to which is quite at odds with the band's "metal" classification. The gentle acoustic guitar lays the foundations for a soft vocal passage. While the vocals are adequate, they are the weak link of the band. In fairness, this is in part due to the production of the album which delivers the vocals in a rather raw, unrefined way. The track builds through heavy riffing and frantic drums delving deep into the territories of bands such as Dream Theater.

"Dreamscape" also begins as a soft ballad, before developing into an Indie sounding piece, with suggestions of the prog punk of bands such as The Mars Volta. "Aphelion" is the shortest and most straight forward track on the album. The vocals on this rock metal song are better than on most of the album, this being about as close as the band come to creating something commercial in pop terms.

The now familiar acoustic intro returns for "In good seasons", but this time although the track does become louder, it maintains the lighter style. By way of a pleasant surprise, the song includes unaccredited violin as well as the more prosaic guitar. The album closes with "Tacit knowledge", a three part suite and the longest track on the album. In reality though, other than the length, there is little to differentiate this from what has gone before, the average vocals and by now familiar guitar sounds simply being extended. The latter part of the piece does show a degree of refinement which, had it been present throughout the album, would undoubtedly have been to the album's advantage.

In all, an album which offers the promise of potential, rather than actually delivering. With some competent production, and perhaps the addition of some keyboards to fill out and diversify the sound, Sunpath could have a bright future.

Sunpath is new to ProgArchives at the time I write this review - they entered the forums as an unsigned/unreleased band and were approved shortly after that on the basis of this, their debut album. A band with many influences listed in their band information (and probably as many not listed), formed by a mix of young and slightly older musicians (ages between 25 and 45 at the time of this release) most of whom are well trained (some even classically trained) multi-instrumentalists. Promising...

The album starts with the instrumental opener Intromental, which brings back vague recollections of the instrumental openings of 1980's Helloween albums. Recollections that are quickly wiped out, since this track is more serious than the Helloween intros, this is a real overture of the album rather than a guitar 'thingy'. With this, the metal roots and the more than decent level of musicianship are introduced straight away. Picture of Illusion follows, with a dreamy, picked guitar intro that lasts for a few minutes, followed by alternating metal ballad like verse and a chorus. Near the end the mood changes gradually in order to return to the atmosphere and sound of the intro. Dreamscape takes me back to the first time I heard a sample of the band on MySpace (a mix of short pieces of all tracks), which immediately reminded me of Sieges Even's Paramount album that I had just bought at the time. The bands show akin, but Sunpath still has it's own ideas to work with, and a different vocalist. Heavier and speedier Aphelion is a real metal track with a progressive edge, and Ralf Kierspel showing the high pitch possiblities of his voice. I never heard his former band Picture This, but I think they might be worth sampling as well. In Good Seasons then - a completely different beast, with some very clean guitar work in it. Ralf singing in a quite emotional way. I recall someone on ProgArchives wrote in a review that Sieges Even mixed Metal and Art Rock. For me, this track shows that Sunpath is capable of doing the same. Rafael Sonntag also gets a chance to show his skills on the violin (he is classically trained on that instrument), which is blended very nicely with a slightly distorted guitar solo. This is a track that really appeals to me. Closing track of the album is the 13-minute epic Tacit Knowledge. A short description of the track, and some lyrics are dearly missed - this track made me notice for the first time that the CD has no booklet, only an double sided inlay with band info. However, musically, the track is more than worth listening. It shows what the band means with this credo found on their web site (I translated it from German below):

"SUNPATH - a name that stands for virtuosity, richness in elements, powerful rock, and fine melodies. Five musicians combine this with stylistic influences from rock, metal, jazz, blues, and funk - in order to create innovative, unique music."

Bits of most styles mentioned here are to be found in this track - without loosing coherence, in some places even blending almost unnoticed.

Overall, Sunpath may not have started their career with a five star masterpiece (I dare not judge it that way at it's present age), but this album and the level of experience and musical education in the band, hold promises for the future. A little more variation in song structures (less chorus-verse alternations in track likes Picture of Illusions) would have been nice, but overall musicianship compensates for this.