Sonus Corona
s/t

A little while ago Finnish band Sonus Corona released their debut album which they cleverly enough called Sonus Corona, and finally I have managed to get around to review it. And it is a progressive metal album that walks down paths that has been threaded before, kind of like all progressive music these days – it isn’t really progressive, maybe time to describe it as complex static metal. The good thing is that Sonus Corona at least takes a path little less travelled, meaning that they stay away from the Dream Theater-path that so many bands seem to love.

Their music is built around strong melodies and atmosphere, a bit of beauty and some powerful guitar riffing. I thought they sounded Finnish even before reading that they were, they remind me a bit of Finnish progressive metallers Minutian who have a similar style. No surprises in this album really, but fortunately it is at least not completely predictable so they have a plus there. Not overly complex but there are some nice style- and tempo-changes through the songs and I think they have put together a great production.

The vocals are a bit tame, a bit characterless and don’t really bring the songs to life in their fullest extent – something I find a bit sad as the album could have been much better with slightly more interesting vocals. Of course the band need to create a sound that feels more like their own, to venture away a little more from the safer routes and take a chance that can either fail or bring out brilliance. They do show that they have the potential and the album is definitely a good one to listen to as it offers up some great music and musical moods.

So, they can be considered to be one of those bands that are almost there but not quite, tracks like the very memorable Nexus shows that the band have some great potential but they really need to focus more on writing songs that won’t drown in the mainstream – and that is of course easier said than done. But let me not slam this band in anyway because even if I have some criticism and fear that they probably just will be buried in all other rubble that comes out in the music world today, I still think that they have put together a strong, solid and good album in this self titled debut.

HHHHHHH