SWANLIKE

The debut album by Dark Suns is one of the most heavily Opeth-cloned albums - at some point I was thankful for hearing anything that brought me to the old times of 90's and early 00's Opeth. Dark Suns succeed in resembling and executing most of Opeth traits - setting bleak ambiance, progressive feeling, mighty growl and similar chord sequences. Furthermore, you can hear heavy and acoustic contrasts. Perhaps the song the bests epitomizes it is the title track, pretty much also my favourite track on the album.

Dead and doom-metal driven parts sound convincing even if not terribly original and there are memorable motives behind. It needs to be added that the music never exceeds that of Opeth, there simply isn't the compositional quality nor surprising moments. What the music has more to offer than Opeth - doom elements that could also remind of some earlier Katatonia or Anathema or even some blacked My Doing Bride. Also, while playing is solid, it is not at the same level as Opeth.

As much as I like this album, I wouldn't recommend it to people who aren't fans of early Opeth.