Mitochondrial Sun – Machine Dialectics Review

By sentynel

I am woefully, woefully late with this review. My excuse is that I wanted to avoid a repeat of my embarrassing under-rating of Mitochondrial Sun’s self-titled first album. In truth, though, it’s mostly because I’ve found it difficult to straighten out how I feel about Machine Dialectics. This is a sparse and purely electronic album; the modern classical piano and cello stylings of the self-titled don’t make a re-appearance. It’s also far from the black metal of Sju Pulsarer. There’s not even much percussion here, leaving almost entirely melodic synths of varying tones and textures. At first blush, I liked it, but felt like there was something missing.

Elements of earlier Mitochondrial Sun are certainly here. Songs like “To Those that Dared to Dream” and “The Fate of Animals” are moody, melancholy, or ominous. But it’s far sparser. Songs are very often a lead synth, a little rhythm or ambiance, and not much else. As an exploration of what you can achieve with nothing but a synthesizer and a knack for writing melodies, Machine Dialectics is quite impressive. Avoiding anything that might be described as even slightly dancy puts this in an unusual corner of electronic music. Working to constraints can produce interesting results, and that’s true here. At its best, the minimalism enhances the impact of the big melody lines when they happen, and Sundin really is an excellent songwriter.

As a title, Machine Dialectics suggests the experience of attempting to understand something a computer is doing and getting, well, largely inscrutable results. I am professionally deeply familiar with this feeling, and the record does as it portends. It wanders, and sometimes interesting things happen, but very often I’m still left scratching my head. I keep thinking – as this review grows later and later – that I’m on the cusp of getting it, but it hasn’t happened. I’m not getting the emotional impact I did from Mitochondrial Sun. There are long passages that only barely climb above ambient. The song construction is so sparse that the success of the entire album hinges on those moments when the melodic leads hit. They’re good, but they’re not quite good enough to carry the whole thing.

Despite that, I do enjoy listening to Machine Dialectics. On “The Fate of Animals,” melody and ambiance lines twist around each other, and the piece progresses from contemplative through ominous to a prettier, almost woodwind-like final movement. Closing track “The Child Sleeps in the Machine” is a bit longer than the others at 8 minutes, which gives it a bit more space to develop. “Trilobite Dreams” is the most immediate track, more urgent than the rest of the album, with a catchy, guitar-like melodic lead. But even here, the couple of different themes are all there really is to the track. I struggled to write much at all of note on some of the most ambient interludes (“Kepler-138 E,” Vast Expanses”).

I’ve regularly—and appropriately—reached for Machine Dialectics as a soundtrack when I’m working and need to think. As work music, it’s wormed its way into my head, and I find myself anticipating my favorite moments even when I don’t quite think I’m paying attention. But that lack of attention is a problem, and that makes it challenging to recommend. It’s slow and contemplative to a fault and there are few big payoffs. It ends with its questions left unanswered and me left largely unmoved.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Inertial Music
Websites: mitochondrialsun.bandcamp.com | mitochondrialsun.net | facebook.com/mitochondrialsun
Releases Worldwide: February 21st, 2025

#25 #2025 #Electronic #Feb25 #InertialMusic #MachineDialectics #MitochondrialSun #Review #Reviews #SwedishMetal

The Moor – Ombra Review

By El Cuervo

Those who know me know that Opeth is one of my favorite bands. Those who know me well know that Still Life is my favorite Opeth record. Those who know me extremely well know that “The Moor” was the first Opeth track I heard. The prospect of anything remotely resembling their golden period of music from 1999 until 2005 is very exciting to me. It was on this basis that I chose to review Ombra by Italy’s The Moor, especially in light of the “progressive metal” tag on its one sheet. Could this album hope to match such expectations?

Off the bat, describing Ombra as progressive death metal is, politely, ambitious. Impolitely, flagrantly incorrect. The guttural vox gesture in the direction of death metal and the layering of heavy and light instruments and tones might tend towards progressive metal, but O(ld)peth this ain’t. The package has the aesthetic sheen of Sweden’s most melodic death metal bands (think Soilwork, In Flames) but this isn’t surprising given that Ombra was mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström who has worked with most of the notable melodeath bands. In reality, The Moor prioritize verse/chorus song-writing, simplistic guitar leads, a mix of vocals and synth string sections, blending these elements into a collection of songs that have a remarkably consistent feel. Despite the apparent link to music that is both progressive and deathly, this isn’t an especially experimental, challenging, or heavy release.

Simplistic metal lives or dies by its riffs and sadly those that I find interesting are few and far between here. Chromatic chugs typically occupy the introductions and transitions, while basic power chords under-pin the cleanly sung passages. Most of the music just isn’t very fun to listen to. On the infrequent occasions when the guitarist is permitted to escape from these confines, I’m far more engaged. The bold, emotive solo on “Passage,” the deeper grooves on “Lifetime Damage” and the harmonized, Gothenburg-style lead on “Illuminant” stand above the rest simply because they’re different. The remainder feels like a torrent of somewhat downcast, chugging metal. The overall emotional tone is somewhere around mildly surly rather than the melancholia I suspect was targeted. Though the music initially strikes as urgent and energetic – due to much of the music operating at a high tempo – it quickly becomes turgid and dull due to the unvarying emotional tone.

The opener called “Il Tema dell’Ombra” dares to be different, building tension through a pulsing synth line and piano. Swelling strings subsequently cap a bombastic introduction. It’s solid but sadly bears little resemblance to anything that follows, resulting in an opener that sounds pointless. This sense of pointlessness pervades Ombra. As the record hits its core after the first few tracks you begin to realize that there is nothing new to come. The ten main tracks all do the same thing. There are no real stinkers but precious few highlights or curve balls either. Besides the opener, only “Lifetime Damage” attempts something bigger, with grander vocals and chunkier leads. When The Moor move away from sad crooning and faux-melancholic behavior, they have more impact. But these moments can’t overcome the majority which is derivative, modern melodeath with few unique characteristics.

Ombra isn’t proactively bad, but it’s a drab and forgettable slice of modern metal that does little to stand apart from loads of other bands that have already done this sound and done it better. I can understand the appeal of this sort of music; it’s melodic and synthy to win a popular audience, but its subtle tinges of death metal will make that audience feel hardcore. There’s someone who will love this record. Sadly for The Moor, that person is not me.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Inertial Music
Websites: themoorband.com | bandcamp.themoor.com
Releases worldwide: March 15th, 2024

#20 #InFlames #InertialMusic #ItalianMetal #Mar24 #MelodicDeathMetal #Ombra #Opeth #Review #Reviews #Soilwork #TheMoor