Brooklyn's
White Suns have been defying conventions since 2006. At heart, they seem like a hardcore band, but they twist their blastbeats into very unconventional rhythms, and they shape feedback noise into something far more powerful and alarming than the average punk or metal band. Following 2014's
Totem, perhaps their most astounding, unhinged work to date,
White Suns enter bold new territory with their fourth proper album. The four lengthy compositions favor electronics over guitars, and spoken passages over screaming (although there is plenty of that as well). Instead of frantic drumming, there are static-covered pulsations. It's a bit closer to
Wolf Eyes territory, but compared to much of that group's post-
Dilloway output, this is harsher and scarier. The 14-minute opener, "Korea," starts with vicious noise phasing sequences, travels through bracing spoken word, and ends up with a cacophony of shredded voices and malfunctioning rhythmic noise. "Pilgrim" is mostly festering screeching with gong-like reverberations, laced with caustic feedback. "A Year Without Summer" starts quieter and calmer, but gets extremely cathartic and unsettling halfway through. The recording is very visceral and live-sounding; it sounds like they've captured something that could've only been summoned once. "Medicine Walk" is a bit more brooding, with some water sounds flowing throughout, sounding like a long walk off a plank. For anyone already familiar with
White Suns, this album might take some getting used to, as it seems to present a new side of them. It definitely rewards concentration and an open mind, and doesn't sound like much else out there. ~ Paul Simpson