Review Summary: Like Michael in the rain, like Michael in reign
The music industry is one brutal beast.
Wait, this is a music review, not an op-ed about the industry, why am I starting it off with that?
Here's why: it's very likely that for many people reading this, that this is the first you've ever heard of Shun. They were never signed to a major label, all their known released songs were self-released, and their most known song ("Piece by Piece", from this album) has still yet to eclipse 5,000 streams on Spotify. The original CD release from 2001 only had 1,000 copies pressed and sold. They also only lasted from 1997 to 2002, although they appear to be making a comeback as of August 2024, after 22 years inactive. Essentially, they're one of many bands that never went anywhere and were essentially lost to time for a long while.
This is unfortunate, as
Michael in Reign is a phenomenal piece of alt-metal goodness that should have never been slept on. If it were me in a major label CEO's seat, I would've at least attempted to get this more exposure, like what Atlantic tried with Pulse Ultra around this same timeframe. Simply put, what these guys were able to put together in their sole studio album is up there with a lot of great alternative albums that got loads more attention than this did.
Throughout the course of this 33-minute hidden gem, lead vocalist Billy White channels a similar sense of emotion to what Pete Loeffler and co. in Chevelle did circa
Wonder What's Next, and the lyrical content is extremely harrowing the more it's read into. For example, "Second Voice" was written in tribute to a little girl that was murdered by her brother
(It's evil what he did to you / And all things he put you through / Everything that made you hurt. I'm sorry that he slit your world and left you dying on the floor), and the title track "Michael in Reign" pays homage to White's own brother, who raised him when his parents abandoned him. The other songs are harder to find a direct meaning from the band, but judging by how earnestly those two tracks handle their dark subject matter, it's likely the rest of the album has just as much to do with tragedy and mental health struggles. Billy sings every line with such conviction that everything here hits a very personal emotional chord. My personal favorite is the closer "Hopesend", where the chorus goes as follows:
Please save me from these bitter things I've waited here to know
They bury me like footsteps in the snow
Please sail away these open wounds, I've soaked enough to overflow
And I wait here to know
Please send more hope
The music backing them is intensely passionate, tied just as much to emo as it is to Chevelle-style alt-metal. It's surprisingly accessible if you're willing to let the darkness surrounding the entire thing in, and while it doesn't beat you over the head with technical prowess, it's extremely tight, especially considering the likely small budget. The rawer production serves as a benefit, as while you can hear everything fairly clearly, especially the bass and drums, nothing in the mixing and mastering process is done to take away from the emotion on display, and for a band so indebted to emo, that's obviously an essential factor. One comparison one could make as far as the recording quality is concerned, is
Full Collapse by Thursday, where you can hear things just fine, but it's done with a level of rawness you don't typically hear from bigger-budget acts.
Hopefully this impending comeback from Shun can catapult them, and by extension
Michael in Reign, into at the very least being viewed as a cult classic, rather than being left forgotten. The work they did on this deserves to be known by more than just a few people. Whether it's paying tribute to the little girl spoken of in "Second Voice", or simply detailing stories of their own struggles in tracks like "Hopesend" or the title track, the level of emotion and passion on display is breathtaking.
