Transformation

It was pretty funny to see how this totally fucked with people's heads when it came out (you can even see remnants of it in the earlier reviews of this album on here). Century Media had a pretty strong "enemy of metal" narrative surrounding them at the end of the '00s, mostly because Lacuna Coil and other goth pop crap blew up and it seemed like they were trying to bridge that accessibility gap between metal and rock. They signed all these bands like Vampires Everywhere, In This Moment, even fucking Buckcherry was signed to CM at one point. After all, Robert Kampf (one of CM's founders) has always been more of a rock n' roll guy than a metalhead, by his own admission. Nowadays they've settled back into their big-bill extreme metal niche, but times were different. 2010 was a unique period in internet history as well, because online discourse on metal was still a relatively new thing and people actually still got really, really mad at the idea of a record label betraying them. You just don't see that nearly as much anymore - Nuclear Blast and Napalm Records frequently release some of the dorkiest pop music on the planet and no one cares. Back then, though, it seemed like the biggest threat to metal's existence.

Given the landscape at the time, when Sonne Adam got announced and Century Media revealed that they're fronting a somewhat obscure, occult death/doom band from Israel, all the internet metalheads collectively shit the bed. Forget that this is the label that propelled bands like Asphyx and Grave into public consciousness, who would have fucking thought that they were keeping track of trends and noticed that people on the internet liked OSDM again? That's not something that's super common for a record label to do, it must just be that they're posers and are trying to get people to think they're not posers by putting out music with an aesthetic I like. Typical poser behavior!

I know, it sounds ridiculous, but you'd be surprised how many people had this kind of thought process in 2010. A lot happens in 10 years. Absurd as it is, though, the worst part is that the reactionary detractors of this album were...kind of on to something?

As much as Sonne Adam is primarily inspired by oldschool death metal, this doesn't sound like a typical death/doom album. If Century Media wanted to go back to the roots, they picked the worst possible band to represent that. It probably would have been a lot easier and safer for them to release a generic, Cianide-styled "mid paced riffs and then lots of slow ones" death/doom album. Hell, at this point in time it wouldn't have been beaten into the ground by the Father Befouleds and Necros Christoses of the world, so it would have sounded fresh anyways, but Sonne Adam is like four years ahead of OSDM revival's trajectory. Instead of writing big, booming chords that slowly increase intensity, Sonne Adam has a lot of snakey, winding riffs that lead you down a creepy path more than they crush you. The vocals sound breathy and hollow, but there's not much anger or power behind them - they have much more of a "summoning the god Beelzebub" kind of chanty thing going on. A lot of the time it doesn't even seem like he's actually growling, there's no real rasp in his voice, he just sounds like he's speaking in a very low, toneless rumble. Not unheard of, necessarily, but certainly not common either. Even though this is a "back to the roots of classic metal" kind of album, it engages with the ideas in a very modern, intentional sort of way.

The production is the most egregious offender of this atypical throwback, and it's the final piece that puts the puzzle together: This is death/doom for people that don't listen to death/doom. There's just no way any fan of the genre with a modicum of self-respect would listen to a full album with such a floppy, rubbery guitar tone. Treble-heavy to the point where every strummed note stands out, It's the complete antithesis of what the genre is supposed to be (i.e. riffs with a tone that sounds like a cinderblock to the testicles). The way the songs are written doesn't take advantage of the tone, either. A band like Howls of Ebb can use a whoopee cushion as a distortion pedal and still come out with some cool riffs, but because Sonne Adam tries to be spooky way more than they try to be weird and unsettling, the riffs are way too serious and aren't dense or overwhelming in any way (due to the tone, of course), so the effect they have on the listener is minimized. If you're gonna try and be dark and occult, you can't half-ass that shit, you can't even three-quarter-ass it. To an audio engineer, this would probably sound perfect, because there's lots of space for the instruments to breathe and each element is very clear and discernible on its own, but that leaves no surprises, no playfulness, just some vaguely ominous riffs that would probably sound good in another band's album, but get completely neutered on Transformation. It sounds like someone snuck into the studio after recording and turned the volume knob down on everything. EVERYTHING.

Century Media may have pre-emptively noticed OSDM's rebirth before it actually happened, but instead of just spearheading the movement, they tried to stay three steps ahead of it as well. The bottom line is that Transformation is a fresh, exciting take on death/doom that absolutely no one wanted. Fuck, they probably just wanted more death/doom period, it's already a genre starved for quality bands! The point of the genre is that it's harsh and uncompromising, so when a band like Sonne Adam has a tolerable sound with the edges rounded off and a nice, professionally done "occult" aesthetic, it just feels fake. I may be giving context a little bit too much weight with this one, because to be fair, Century Media signaled a bit of a directional shift by backing Sonne Adam and a lot of why Transformation got the reception it did was just due to the timing of everything and the band basically having built-in haters once they signed their record contract. That being said, everything about how this looks, how the atmosphere feels, how it's marketed, how the band members look etc. suggested to me that it was going to be WAY heavier than it was, and that's not the first time I've felt miffed like that from a turn-of-the-decade Century Media release.

Like ritualistic chants from an ancient and powerful cult, Transformation comes from a dark, dark place. Pulsating with evil, thriving on blood sacrifice and devouring all hope and light in its path, Transformation is a truly atmospheric force of occult devastation. These Israeli's have created and album and crafted a sound which feels familiar without really emulating any death metal band before it. An album steeped in the old school yet fresh and modern feeling, Transformation is a rare album indeed, and one that delivers on multiple levels and through multiple listens.

No album I have heard this year would sound more appropriate during a reading of Satanic Rites than Transformation. Everything about this album is meticulously designed to create an atmosphere of hatred and death, yet it never feels over-wrought or forced: the entire album is organic and powerful from the first note to the final, torturous moments and it never relents. It's easy to come up with a list of influences evident on this album: Incantation, Thergothon, disEMBOWELMENT, Autopsy, Morpheus Descends. Yet none of these disparate influences really describe what exactly Transformation sounds like, as Sonne Adam have developed a truly unique sound; one that invokes pure blackness and true Satanic worship. Even the song titles, such as brilliant tracks like "We Who Worship The Black" and "Take ME Back To Where I Belong" are crafted with the express purpose of layering as much blasphemy and demonic wrath on the listener as possible.

The fact that Sonne Adam have so easily evoke atmosphere without layering on tons of static or that Transformation doesn't sound like it was recorded under-water is what makes it so fucking impressive. Unlike say Portal or Ritual Necromancy, whose entire atmosphere comes from production and not composition, Sonne Adam create a suffocating and soul crushing through song-writing and creative design, despite a strong and modern production(courtesy of Century Media no doubt). Transformation is far from clean, and there is no extra fluff or drum triggers, but the mix is even, all the instruments sound fantastic and the whole thing feels professional. Transformation proves that quality, atmospheric death metal can still be recorded in a studio, by bigger label professionals. The vocals are also a real treat: while pretty much just a mono-tone low growl, they are incredibly clear: unlike the vast majority of death metal vocalists, Dahan is easily the most understandable I have heard... well, ever. No doubt the professional production quality and perfect mix has something to do with this, but Dahan's pronunciation is pretty much perfect, and gives Dahan the vibe of a preacher, spreading his heretical word across the land.

And what heretical words indeed. It is rare for me to discuss lyrics in my reviews, mostly because they are not worth discussing. The vast majority of death metal vocalists have such trouble with pronunciation, and the production is often so uneven, they might as well be saying "RRRRRRRRRRRRRR" or "OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH". But with Transformation, Sonne Adam's brilliantly dark lyrics add another level to the listening experience. "Take Me Back To Where I Belong" features my personal favorite moment on the album(both musically and lyrically):

It's a day of celebration
Death erases all that was before
And those who fought for alternation
Be served as king before before their human forms
This is the time of procreation
And I shall teach the way of the Sadus god
All the cult is by my side
Together we shall rise to claim the throne

You can look forward to being able to clearly understand every single word, and it is a joy indeed to hear such well constructed and evil death metal poetry in all its unholy glory.

I have heaped a lot of praise on this album, and for good reason: Transformation is a masterpiece, a modern day death metal classic, deserving of all the accolades it might receive. No other death metal album this year has left such a permanent mark on me, or my listening rotation, than Transformation. This album also represents a greater purpose: that professionalism is not dead in death metal and that production does not have to be lo-fi and static choked to be atmospheric and demonic. Quit reading this review, and get this album. The dark Gods are calling to you. Answer them.

Rating: 10/10

Originally posted at http://curseofthegreatwhiteelephant.blogspot.com/

Sonne Adam is an Israeli traditional death metal band whose first full-length, Transformation, was released through Century Media this year.

No, that's not a mistype. It is traditional death on Century Media. Which makes me wonder why they would sign a band like this in the midst of their pop acts like The Haunted and Vampires Everywhere! Do they think traditional death is the next fad? Granted, it has generated renewed interest, but it's hardly the kind of thing they can push to the skateboarder/Hot Topic crowd they've geared their business toward. Maybe instead it's a bid to hold on to some of their lost credibility among the trve.

Whatever the case may be, Sonne Adam practice a style of atmospheric death metal inspired by none other than Incantation. It's mostly slow- to mid-paced, and it's heavy, with all the swirling guitar riffs you'd expect from the style. The guitar tone is a bit sludgier than the average band in this vein, which should make it sound filthy, but it doesn't.

That's where the Century Media touch comes in. For a second there, you thought this was going to be an exception to their agenda of destroying everything good about metal. No, the problem is, they forgot how death metal is supposed to sound, and they produced it clean. Instead of the sepulchral maelstrom of riffs that you should get, instead, you can clearly pick out each instrument, and there's sonic space to breathe. It sounds like they tried really hard to get everything right, instead of channeling The Beast. The result is that it falls flat, despite solid songwriting.

The Verdict: I keep holding out hope that Century Media will do something right. This should have been vindication, but it's not. Still, I wouldn't count the band out, as they do show promise.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/

Well, it's now official: old school death metal has gone viral. When a wave such as this is suddenly reclaimed by rock star labels like Century Media, you know the numbers must be there to back it. Thankfully, for all of us, this is a far less annoying development than the death- and fashioncore we've been abused with for years. In truth, it is quite welcome, and if artists like Israel's Sonne Adam continue to ooze forth from the pores of this genre of rediscovery, then we're in for a world of delectable darkness and damnation. For most, the quality of this band will probably come as an unexpected shock; but I'm honestly not so surprised, as they released a decent EP last year (Armed With Hammers), and one of the guitar players is also a member of Tsorer, a vile and excellent black metal duo who dropped their amazing debut (Return to Sodom) last year.

Transformation is an utterly decrepit, light leeching experience that paces itself perfectly between rude, doomed valleys and spidery, opaque heights, never dragging its feet in the monotony that so threatens new artists who so absorb and admonish the past. If you've heard the US band Father Befouled, then you're pretty much in the right ballpark: a huge influence from proto death/doom acts at the dawn of the 90s; a fuck ton of Incantation and perhaps a touch of the later emerging Runemagick. Perhaps not so novel, but the key is that Sonne Adam are so skilled at restraint and the placement of atmosphere that they fall nothing short of subterranean majesty. I found myself completely sucked into the harrowing march of "I Sing His Words", the choppy meandering of "Take Me Back To Where I Belong", and the gore endowed grace of the title track, with its stylish lapses into thinner, ringing distorted guitars during the creepy lead sequence.

The band usually accords its ambient elements within the gnawing worms of its metal tracks, but there is one exception here, "Solitude in Death", a resonant underground guitar instrumental that fits right in with the surrounding gloom. Transformation has a one track mind, and that track is carried along ineffable, incessant blackness that never releases its grip. You will be swallowed, strangled, and destroyed by the time the 42 minutes have passed, and if you're listening during daylight hours, you'll probably have to glance outside in hopes that the sun remains, that we're not all about to be frozen to death in the quelling of the star that sustains us. Lord Byron said it best: 'And the clouds perish'd; darkness had no need of aid from them - She was the Universe'. Well, She has just ruptured her womb, the able heretics of Sonne Adam slid forth on her dire humours, now arrived to dispel the warmth of the living and cannibalize their hopes and dreams. Time to work out my Will, though I doubt there will be any left to claim it.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com