EXISTENCE

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 !