Album Review: Waking Signs By Sundoze
Modern trends in the American music scene are inclined to benefit international bands. Bands like Sigur Ros, Radiohead, and Pussy Riot established fame outside their own countries borders either through their music, marketing skills, or acts of rebellion. The thing that made it easier to discover these bands is the wonderful double-edged sword known as the internet. While the internet simplifies the way for bands to be found, this new market becomes easily saturated to the point these bands plea for attention like people trading stock at the stock exchange. When it comes to that, it places the ball in the consumer’s court to determine which bands are worthy of their hard-earned money. This brings me to discuss a band I have discovered recently: Sundoze. These guys are a trio progressive post-rock outfit hailing from the motherland of Russia. Sundoze formed back in November of 2008 and four years later they dropped their debut LP Waking Signs. The mission statement of the band is to perform quality music without sacrificing their integrity. While that to some degree is a cliché statement, the way Sundoze earns their worth is through their songwriting and originality.
The opening track of Waking Signs is "Alien". Right from the get-go of "Alien" we get a good sized taste of what Sundoze offers in terms of sound with hints of post-grunge and progressive post-rock. When I initially heard the first minute of this track, I was feeling a tad underwhelmed. However after the first chorus ends, the bands explodes into this rather impressive progressive breakdown. Just as soon as that breakdown begins to take off, Sundoze settles the listener back into place with a nice cool down back into the next verse. The rest of "Alien" follows a similar formula with soft and loud sections that complement each other. The only thing that brings the track down for me is the vocals coming from Vassiliy Fadin. His vocals come across like they can't decide whether they want to be smooth or angsty. Serving as the opening track, "Alien" does give us a great taste of what to anticipate from the remainder of the album.
Waking Signs really showcases the potential of Sundoze quite well. However, a bit of the album left me underwhelmed and just plain bored. The vocals never quite sit well in my ears as often as they should have and the instrumentals seem to be held back for a good bit of the album. Take for example the eighth track, "Electrified". The whole song remains in this nice, safe groove that you could hear in elevator music. To some degree, Sundoze does vary the song structure a bit in "Electrified", but I kept wanting to hear something that got me hooked into the track. Unfortunately, I was let down and instead, the song remained in a safe sound. To be fair, I did say Waking Signs did show the potential of Sundoze. Tracks like "Dreamcatcher" redeem the album and show what Sundoze is capable of when they explore their sound fully. "Dreamcatcher" opens up with this progression of a nice groove that builds into this beautiful explosion of sound and beauty in the span of two and half minutes. This song has all that gets me excited for Sundoze and what they can accomplish when they allow their creativity to flourish. Everything in here is spot on: the progression of a quiet groove into a thunderous explosion of beauty and sound to the way Sundoze just comes together with their instrumentals and vocals. "Dreamcatcher" makes me envision a man going through his life finding passion, losing it, and finding it all again.
The finale of Waking Signs is the track "XLV". The track begins with a slow post-rock build into this explosion that sends the song flying. Similar to the style of "Dreamcatcher", "XLV" shows off what the band can truly do in terms of songwriting. With echoing lyrics of "Someday I'll find you" and "I'm falling", "XLV" does a perfect job at closing the album by making you feel that you spent the past hour mediating on the mysteries of life.
Generally speaking, Waking Signs makes me feel that I am listening to two different bands that are called Sundoze. The first Sundoze is this rather lack-luster indie rock band that borders on contemporary music. The second one is a band that can turn any song into a journey and comes off as truly unique. At the end of it all, I encourage people to check out the album and discover the great aspects of the Sundoze.
Listen To: Dreamcatcher, XLV, Paragon
Skip: Electfried, Burnt Again, With me
