Sun of Nothing – The Guilt of Feeling Alive

December 1, 2010 • CTS Productions

I don't know why I do this to myself. There's only so much you can say after reviewing a hundred of the same old sludge albums. Yet, somehow, I still keep doing it, even when I know I won't get much pleasure out of it.

And it really says something about an album when, after six listens, it still doesn't do anything that sticks with you. Each of those six listens has seemed fresh to me, because I can never remember a single thing they do on this whole album. Maybe it's a testament to the sheer amount of this sort of stuff I've been listening to lately, or a sign of my dwindling attention span, or maybe The Guilt of Feeling Alive just isn't very good.

I think the main problem is that the writing is just so incredibly bland, as the songs are essentially the same one or two riffs repeated over and over. That's not always inherently a bad thing; after all, it's what Isis did, and they're still one of my all-time favorite bands. But the songs here don't really do anything to evolve or build up or go anywhere; they're just a boring flat slab of music. Isis managed to take one riff and sculpt it over time and keep it interesting; Sun of Nothing doesn't really do that. There are exceptions, of course; the ending of "Drowned Out" is particularly good, with a very tense 5/8 riff building up over the last half of the song. But the majority of it is tough to listen to.

Aside from that, things sound decent, at least technically. The bass guitar does have a really nice, gritty sound that makes it stick out well. There's not much to say otherwise, except those vocals don't really fit at all. They sound like they'd go better on a black metal demo.

I dunno, maybe I'm just grumpy today, but listening to this album didn't really give me any enjoyment. Really, it's an alright album, but something about it just doesn't sit well with me. Why did something like Islands click and this didn't? It's the mystery and magic of music, I guess.

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