Sundr’s highly anticipated sophomore effort, The Canvas Sea, is every bit as haunting as it is well constructed. The sense of sheer dread that permeates tracks such as I Still See Plagues is akin to watching the moon appear from behind thick clouds on a cold night – an unsettling unison between dark and light. That’s not to mention the powerful tempo change at the end of the track, so furious it could melt steel.
Corinthians comes in crashing with rhythmic drumming and riffs that beat on the eardrums like a battering ram before snapping into a spine-tingling bass riff and coming to a close with a triumphant, distinctively post-metal riff – full of gorgeous flow and emotive riff work.
There’s a lot that Sundr are doing right on this album. They’ve kept each song balanced between heavy and ambient sections and every instrument is being challenged as if they’re trying to outdo themselves on a track by track basis. Listening to the album definitely draws some comparisons to Cult of Luna’s lengthy, riff driven songwriting, so to hear an Australian act take a similar-yet-unique twist on this makes for a great and somewhat surprising listen.
