Review Summary: A great progressive showcase of death metal by an overlooked band.
Crushing Sun is a Gojira-esque metal quartet from Portugal, and it's damned hard to find anything about these guys. Which is a shame because they deserve much more attention but seeing as this is their first full length release they have time to grow.
The first thing that strikes me about TAO is the Earthy organic sound of the music, imagine hippies making metal. This could be more a subjective attitude than anything, but suffice to say if you’ve listened to Gojira the record has a similar production. The album as a whole has a somewhat mellow feel to it despite the obvious death metal in it. What enhances this is guitarist’s Paulo Lopes’ acoustic passages. These are some of the best music on the album and really help distinguish songs and give them a character. The drumming is expertly done and more can’t really be asked for. Bruno Silva’s singing is another highlight of the album, he has a very deep passionate voice but yet never really feels truly aggressive. Which perfectly matches the band’s music, heavy yet never malevolent. Great when you want to listen to something hard but not ear shattering.
The music can get somewhat repetitive as far as the heavy parts go, and one song can be confused for another at times, especially towards the end. As said before though the acoustic passages really help balancing this out. The opening track Rain has an appropriately crushing riff that meanders off then returns, then chills out for a bit. It really sets the tone of progressive death metal on the album. The End and Jane’s Trail have some very cool guitar parts which make them great listens. T.Hatcher, which is the only song with any sort of music video, is definitely decent, but rather simple compared to others. Finally Love, Love is a masterpiece of progressive metal and if there is one song off this album to listen to this is it. The first Crushing Sun song I listened to, it immediately strikes you as something unusual and noteworthy. The drumming, guitars, and singing all come together on this track like no other. It’s calm and beautiful and heavy all at the same time.
The end tracks of the album show a much heavier side Crushing Sun, but prog elements are still present. And it gives the album some nice variety. This is band that can throw a plethora of ideas into one album and have something beautiful come out.
