Morian - Sentinels of the Sun
Dynamic Arts Records - DYN024 - July 17, 2007
By Jack Deming
"All the nameless things that follow you
they will die eventually
instead of memories that have run you through
there will be conformity"
The constant barrage of metal being spewed forth from Finland seems to be getting painfully trendier and trendier these days, and
Morian is no exception, their debut
Sentinels of the Sun being, and I'm being nice about this, a generic piece of pseudo metal crap. Funny enough, it's not even really that trendy. Five or six years ago it might've been, but not anymore, for a simple reason. It's boring as fuck, and people got tired of this particular brand of boring music.
Sentinels of the Sun employs a lot of twangy and bouncy melodies interspersed with muddy chugga chugga guitars, choruses that employ endless repetition and offer no variation of any kind, and a singular song structure spanning the whole disc. Throughout my entire listen and subsequent listens of this album, I came across a few moments that meagerly caught my attention, but not one gave me the impression that this album would be worth bothering with further. One of my biggest problems is with the vocalist, whose baritone voice has been done so much in the past that it pains me hear it and think of all of the bland ass music that I've been subjected to over the years, almost like hearkening back to a very bad memory.
Staying true to the collective trademark of most Finnish metal,
Sentinels of the Sun does have more than a few catchy moments, so if you're the type to jump at the first melody to tickle your fancy, by all means, give this a listen. But truthfully, seeing as this was a July '07 release, it would be surprising indeed if this band has not already been largely forgotten by now.
Official Morian Website
Official Dynamic Arts Records Website
