Style: Progressive Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Contortionist, Tesseract, Skyharbor
Review by: Christopher
Country: Portugal
Release date: 2 December, 2022
Maybe I was the last person to realise, but I didn’t realise how influential The Contortionist have been in the prog metal underground until pretty recently. While we’ll never run out of Tool and Dream Theater worshipping groups, you’ll find few sounds that have permeated as fast and as deep into the modern progressive underground as the one The Contortionist put forward on Language. Off the top of my head: Benthos, Effuse, Karmanjakah, Celaris, Sentryturn, Soulsplitter, Claemus, Terrestria (all great bands, by the way) are all clearly influenced by that album, and there’s undoubtedly a ton more that I’ve missed.
Unto this burgeoning one-band-subgenre come Sullen, a Portuguese group who sound like… well, you can probably guess by now. While that’s true for the music—the same glut of polyrhythms, unexpected key changes, discordant mid-tempo riffs and huge atmospheres—the vocals skirt a little closer to the nasality of Periphery’s Spencer Sotelo and the climactic highs of Tesseract’s Dan Tompkins, before switching into phlegmatic harshes.
At this point, I have a confession to make: I’m not a big fan of Language, I much prefer Clairvoyant which I find to be a far more dynamic and emotive album. Nodens Tollens, while clearly influenced by and retaining the harsh/clean balance of Language, reminds me more of Clairvoyant in its dynamism. But either way, the similarities to both albums make Sullen a little hard to review; there’s not all that much to say beyond “if you’ve heard The Contortionist then you’ve basically heard this”.
Naturally, Nodus Tollens – Act 2: Ascension is a sequel—namely, to Nodus Tollens – Act 1: Oblivion which came out in March 2021. Being a good little reviewer, I nipped back to that predecessor. A smaller release with shorter tracks, Act 1 plays with some synth-driven interludes, but sonically it’s very much of a piece with Act 2, as one would expect. If you like what you hear in the one then you’ll be equally happy with the other.
Derek Sherinian guests on “Devious”—common wisdom has it that you’re never more than six feet from a Derek Sherinian guest spot on a prog album—and his overdriven synth shredding injects a different stripe of vitality into the track. Meanwhile, Auriel Santos provides additional percussion on three tracks, sounding like he’s raided the kitchen drawers—but in a good way, clicking and clacking away in the background, bestowing “Locust”, “Devious” and “The Longing” with a more organic undercurrent. “Stoichiometric” is even more jagged in its time signatures than Sullen usually are, with chaotic guitar lead lines and abyssal harshes, perforated by a soaring bridge that hits all the harder for its incongruity. “Rite of Ascension” provides a penultimate climax for the album, slowing things down to an almost doom metal rpm, and building from a soft introduction into grandiloquent swelling chords and rousing female back-up vocals.
I’ve heard many The Contortionist-inspired bands and Sullen easily rank among the most diligent and accomplished replicators of this sound. While they join the coterie of epigones lapping at their master’s heels, this particular imitation is almost as satisfying as the real thing. Nodus Tollens doesn’t get many points for originality, but I can find little to fault in the playing and composition. While I hope Sullen will cultivate their talents to develop a sound of their own, for now this is some pretty good hero worship.
Recommended tracks: Headspace, Devious, Rite of Ascension
You may also like: Benthos, Effuse, Karmanjakah, Celaris, Sentryturn, Soulsplitter, Claemus, Terrestria
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Blood Blast Distribution – Website | Facebook
Sullen is:
– David Pais (vocals)
– Ricardo Pinto (bass, guitars, piano, backing vocals)
– André Ribeiro (guitars)
– Marcelo Aires (drums, percussion, keys, backing vocals)
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