THE SUNPILOTS

I saw these guys playing a free gig in the Berlin Mauerpark. Keeping in mind the limitations of the portable amplifiers and restricted drumkit, I was absolutely amazed at the quality and professionalism. We'd travelled to Berlin especially to see another gig by Gazpacho and as we wandered the nearby fleamarket we heard this band playing and went to watch. The first thing that struck me was the vocals by Raj Siva-Rajah, his voice is uncannily similar to Marco Glühmann from Sylvan. In fact the whole sound of the Sunpilots is very similar to Sylvan and fans of theirs would be well advised to check out these guys. Another reviewer has likened the Sunpilots to the Mars Volta but I can't see that myself. They are modern day troubadours who spend their whole time travelling and gigging and apparently play around five gigs per week regularly and the tightness and quality of all this constant playing shows. I bought both of their albums from them at the gig and they've been on rotation in my player since! This album is still available for free from their website so it's well worth downloading. This album is full of high quality numbers but the track,The Captain is probably the one which displays their range the best, showing off Raj's vocal range and Bob Spencer's guitar work which is quite superb yet avoids showy technical displays of let's-see-how-many-notes-I-can-play-in-three-seconds!

Highly recommended for fans of bands like Sylvan, Anathema, later Porcupine Tree.

I was struggling to think of a way to describe this band all morning during my commute to work. Because of the variety of sound that The Sunpilots deliver on this album, it took a few hours before I finally pinpointed the musical influences. Whether unintentional or not, my first impression of this band is a musical fusion of The Mars Volta and Incubus, but not necessarily a musical duplicate. I could easily hear Brandon Boyd's vocals if I closed my eyes, and could easily guess the song structures to be Mars Volta or At The Drive-In B-sides. The previous sentence is in no way meant to be an insult or taken in a negative connotation.

The songs in "King of the Sugarcoated Tongues" are much too complex and unique to simply be copying one or two different bands' sound, but simple enough to be pleasant and catchy. Each song is a prerequisite to the next, as the song structure is uniquely driven by the electric and bass guitars, played by Bob Spencer and Adil Baktir respectively. The first song I listened to was "The Piper's Mirror," which is also released as a music video. The video reminds me of a dystopian future, but can be interpreted to the viewer's liking. Songs like "King of the Sugarcoated Tongues" and "God Science" reminds me of old-school Incubus with its simple yet effective guitar riffs, doused in phaser and other sound effects. Other songs like "The Captain" and "Rain" make me recall the guitar styles of individuals like Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of the Mars Volta and Nick Perri of Shinedown. The groovy bass guitar is prominent in every song. I cannot help but follow the bass guitar in songs like "King of the Sugarcoated Tongues" and "Exodus". The drumbeat is the perfect complement to the effect-driven guitars and bass guitars, played by Kay Ketting.

What I love the most about this album is the vocals. Raj Siva-Rajah's range is incredible; his vocals alone are a reason to listen to this album. His voice sounds like a mix between many well known rock singers, from Brandon Boyd to Matthew Bellamy to Jeff Buckley. Vocals are highlighted in songs like "3 Minutes to Midnight" and "The Captain." His range in vocals, along with the varying styles of guitar make this album stand out among others.

A very surprising album, I definitely rate this a 4 out of 5 stars.