Denmark Psychedelic Doom Titans SONIC MOON Reveal Striking Debut LP
~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~
By Billy Goate
Artwork by Mirkow Gastow
I knew from the moment I heard the opening track from 'Return Without Any Memory' (2023) that I wanted SONIC MOON to be featured in these pages, for the Aarhus 5-piece are a special band.
The colors are all right for their album cover, as opening track "The Waters" really does conjure those unearthly yellows, blues, and reds. It's a song that meets somewhere at the junction of Soundgarden, Greenleaf, and Mars Red Sky. The drums mark a desert rock pace and the song rolls steady, with jaded roadhouse vocals and dark Pentagramesque riffing.
There's something lonely, but comforting about the songs on the album. These are dark, otherworldly tracks with downtuned grunge tone and warmly bittersweet vocals, gliding calmly along in a vessel of fuzz down the shuddering waters of Styx. I took it all in while the moon was shining bright in my backyard and it was an ultra-cool experience, particularly during "Head Under The River."
Reached for comment, the band had this to say about the new LP:
It took us some years and a few EPs to reach a point where we were satisfied enough with our material to put it on a full-length album. It’s something we looked towards from the very beginning, it just took a while to get there!
Almost every song starts with one of us bringing a riff or a loosely based idea to rehearsal, and from there we work the rest out as a group. So it's a very collaborative process.
The new album was self-recorded at our rehearsal space in February 2022. We recorded everything live, except the vocals. We had very limited time to record, so we actually ended up recording the instrumental parts in a single day.
Sonic Moon's debut album Return Without Any Memory is one of the clear standouts of 2023, a record I'll be revisiting often. Get it Friday, August 4th, through the band and Olde Magick Records (pre-order vinyl here). Stick it on a playlist with Witchcraft, King Buffalo, Dunbarrow, and Magmakammer.
Give ear...
Return Without Any Memory by Sonic Moon
SOME BUZZ
Sonic Moon is the sound of Kevin Starrs meeting Josh Homme on an acid trip in the dark Scandinavian winter. It is heavy guitar-riffs, drowned in fuzz and delay, carried through by a swaying drum- and bass-section, complimented by a raw and melodic vocal. The lyrics consume the remaining light, and touches subjects like nihilism, sorrow and anger.
After spending the better part of two years unfolding their contrasting and riff-based take on psychedelic stoner rock, Sonic Moon release their 7-track self-recorded debut album Return Without Any Memory on August 4th, 2023 on Olde Magick Records.
The first single Give It Time was released on May 12 and premiered by the stoner rock blog the Sleeping Shaman. Additionally, the music video was released on the 666MrDoom’s Youtube channel focusing on doom, stoner and psychedelic rock and metal.
Return Without Any Memory’s dark and heavy groove introduces the band's shared feeling of encapsulated loneliness, anger and frustration, all contained within the refined sound produced by the intensive care, effort and soul that the band fueled the album with.
Return Without Any Memory will be available on vinyl in two editions: ‘Blue Moon’ and ‘Cloudy Splatter’ on Bandcamp. The album is recorded by Sonic Moon, mixed and mastered by Haldor Grunberg at Satanic Audio, and the artwork is designed by Mirkow Gastow.
Follow The Band
Get Their Music