Satinoxide
Still the Sun
Rating
Style: Progressive Metal
Release date: 1 August, 2011
Playing time: 37:58
 

I thought I knew most of the (better) Dutch metal bands, but this band came to me as a surprise. Bands like Satinoxide make it worth being a reviewer. Out of the blue on my desk and with good music, very good music. Variety of styles is what you can expect. The style Progressive Metal is far from covering the whole package. Don't expect music in Dream Theater style, no the progressiveness lies in the successful use of styles without becoming messy or loose sand.

The three founding members decided not to look for more band members, but were helped out by Stef Broks (drums), Christian Robbemond (bass) and Luc-O on lead guitar. On "Strangers" there is a vocal guest appearance by Marjon van Iwaarden (dance act - 2 Unlimited).

The vocals are a combination of grunts, clean singing and female voices. In "Longing" the clean vocals sound even a bit like dramatic doom (Candlemass). The music isn't very easy to describe. Expect brutal metal, power metal, gothic, AOR and symphonic metal. But that is not all; most of the songs are accompanied by clear piano parts done by Marloes Matthijsen. This gives the music just that bit extra and in combination with the low grunts a nice antithesis. The song "Longing" is again a good example of that and reminds me of the band Crematory ('Transmigration'). In the first track we also hear some Hammond organs and an excellent guitar solo. Expect the unexpected is another description for this music. From one second to another the music differs from soft and serene into brutal blast-beating parts. For the metal fans who want more than lyrics about dungeons and dragons, the lyrics on this album are inspired by Buddhism and the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Put Crematory, Dream Theater, Marillion, Rough Silk, Candlemass, Cradle of Filth, Nightwish, The Gathering (old) and Paradise Lost in a blender, mix it very good and perhaps you get music like Satinoxide? Or not? Perhaps I could have mentioned a lot other metal bands instead and it still wouldn't cover it.

One thing is for sure; a new band that brings us more than the usual stuff, I'm already looking forward to what the band is going to do next. A band like Satinoxide makes me proud to be a Dutchman.


Tracklist

01. Claustrophobia
02. Longing
03. Nectar of Desire
04. Three Stages of Being
05. Sacred Ground
06. Strangers
07. Throbbing Pulse of Death
08. Still the Sun

Label: Independent
Distribution: www.satinoxide.com
Reviewed by: Reinier de Vries
Date: 23 August, 2011
Website: www.myspace.com/satinoxide