I’m not exactly what you would call a fan of Pagan/Doom Metal.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against it personally. It’s not as if I was set upon by a roving band of Pagan/Doom Metal musicians on their way to a Renaissance Fair – which is where I assume they all congregate to drink mead and exchange guitar tunings – it’s just that it’s never been part of my surrounding sphere.

Let’s face it, this thing of ours has so many sub-genres that unless you totally devote every waking minute of your life to it, you’re not going to be able to uncover all of them, so inevitably some will just fall by the wayside. As has been the case with myself and Pagan/Doom Metal. Until now.

Which beggars the question: Did Two Suns by Colosalist have any effect on my tiny little world? Or am I still happy to remain ignorant, wallowing in my old Darkthrone cassette cases and slightly faded posters of Iron Maiden?

Well, if you’re a regular reader of the site you should know the answer to that before I’ve even started. I’m always ready to dive headfirst into a style of music I may have been previously oblivious too and, fortunately for me, Two Suns by Colosalist is the perfect sea to land in, though admittedly a freezing bloody cold one.

There is something about this record that makes me think of wind swept fields and huddling around campfires for warmth, which is quite an impressive feat for an album called Two Suns.

There is also something about this record that makes me want to run screaming into the middle of a bloody battle and start swinging an axe into people’s faves. Though that might say more about me than I’d like to admit…

Musically, Colosalist merge folk with doom incredibally well. Each track on Two Suns feels like a sprawling epic, with a sound large enough to satisfy even the hungriest appetite. It is intricate and complex, but not so much that you find yourself overwhelmed with extended guitar solos and overbearing choral choirs. Which may be the point behind Pagan/Doom Metal, but having never listened to it before, I have no reference point.

This also means I can’t compare them to any other band within that genre, as I don’t know any other bands within that genre, but what I will say – and I hope I don’t offened the band by doing so – there is a touch of Rammstein about them. Mainly in the track Creeping Frost, where the guitar riff owes more than a nod to the German powerhouse band.

Two Suns is a reflection of a band that write haunting and powerful music, dedicated to nature, duality, and the inner-self, and do so really blood well. It is an album filled with poetic beauty and musical landscapes as vast and ominous as the Himalayas themselves. It is a statement of a band that need to be taken seriously and – as a former outsider now inside the city gates – a hell of an introduction to a genre of music I had never given a passing thought to before..

Call me a convert.

Two Suns by Colosalist is available on September 9 via Hoggorm Music.

CHOICE CUT: Die Inside Me.

RATING: 4 OUT OF 5

RATING SYSTEM:

• 0: Fucking Shit
• 1: Shit
• 2: Not Bad Shit
• 3: Pretty Good Shit
• 4: Amazing Fucking Shit
• 5: The Best Shit You Will Ever Hear

PRESS SOURCE: Cátia C./Against PR.