A Huge New Album for SUM OF R

A new album from SUM OF R delivers quite a soiree of gritty soundscapes, blending metal and psychedelic rock to create deepening atmospheres and grueling undertones that all feel engulfing and intense in different ways.

There's a lot of wild and rambunctious sound happening throughout the Spectral album, and it all has an electric energy to it that becomes quickly addicting because the high-octane approach is something that you grab onto.

A lot of these songs come through with a certain kind of vastness in their undertone, although it is edgy, has dark tonalities to it, and slight haunts as well.

Throughout the unfolding of this record, there are quite a few surprises that come together with such a cool approach. Songs like "Null" capture exactly what I mean because it's one of those songs that has such a high intensity level with such Sonic drive that it hits you like a sucker punch to the gut. Then, suddenly, there are these breakdowns with spacious underbellies and melodic vocals that come into play, and it just throws you off kilter.

This is the kind of thing that lets you start to expect the unexpected, and I envy any record that can do that.

Other tracks feel deepening, rumbling, cinematic, and provide these layers of Fierce and fiery textures with death metal-style vocals that growl and inventive percussion that creates a more immersive experience.

"Waltz of Death" is one of those songs, and it's probably one of my favorites on the record simply because it's so hard-hitting but in a different way. Create its own aesthetic, and this sound is just dripping with heavy-handed and decimated tonality.

It's quite an intense track, but also lends a hand to the diversity and many different waves and levels of intensity that the entire LP provides.

Songs like "Empty Rooms" give off more of this spacious energy but in a different light. This track is focused more around piano, distance to vocals that are so far in the background that they feel like someone is calling out from within a tunnel or a cave, and unique synthesizers that you haven't heard on the record quite yet.

So, the level of diversity and eclectic approaches, and songwriting styles is what makes this record so special. Again, you don't really know what to expect next, but you know you're going to get engulfed by it.

This is the kind of album you listen to in full. You start at the beginning and go all the way through to the end, and believe me, a lot is going on throughout the nine songs that are given, but each one has something different to offer.

Listening to the full record is the only way you get this massive experience, though. Certain songs are almost 8 minutes long while others are a lot shorter, but still, listening to the entire release is the way you end up getting swallowed up by the whole project, and I think that's what it's meant for.

There are elements about this that are experimental, theatrical, cinematic, and invasive. I love all of these attributes because they're something that kind of puts you in the moment with the songs.

These are outside-the-box pieces of music that are not billed with boundaries around them or to conform to any kind of specific genre.

Some songs feel flowing and free, and others have a dark and creepy edginess to them. Some feel like the soundtrack of a horror film, and others blend experimental Stoner rock and heavy metal to create something new.

So, take a deep dive into this record because not only did it just come out, but it's got so many different elements to offer that you won't come out of it the same.

Listening to this record with headphones on will really pull you into the sound and the aesthetic that it's giving off. Again, this record, as a whole, delivers a very unique and particular atmosphere, and once you're in it, it's hard to step out.

This is some of the best experimental and tripped-out doom music that I've heard in a long time. You can really dig deep with this one, and I suggest you do exactly that.

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