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Sigiriya: Darkness died today
20/05/14 || gk
I liked Sigiriya’s debut album a lot. Return to earth was a solid collection of stoner friendly hard rock songs with some excellent songwriting and the band had managed to carve out an identity without infringing on their legacy with Acrimony. So when I saw that Sigiriya had a new album out this year I was quite excited.
“Darkness died today” is a different beast in comparison to the debut album. The big change is in new vocalist Matt Williams who replaces Dorian Walters’ unique vocal delivery with a much more accessible and mainstream style that borrows from Anselmo and Cornell with a modern bluesy hard rock approach. This immediately makes the music a lot more accessible and to add to it, the sound on this album is a lot cleaner too. The guitars have lost a lot of their bite and the rumbling bass has been pushed to the background. Having said all of that, there are still a few really good songs here and Sigiriya has released a pretty solid follow up to what was an excellent debut.
“Dragging the bones” starts proceedings with a solid groove and a pretty cool vocal line from Williams. “Guided by mountains” stars with a folk sounding acoustic melody and what could be a cello in the background, Matt Williams’ steps in with a melodic vocal line and as the rest of the band weighs in, the song takes on a modern hard rock approach. “Godspeeder” has a bass heavy riff at its heart and I wish it had been heavier but honestly what could have been a great song is sort of let down by Williams’ predictable approach to the song. “Obelisk” is a driving heavy rock song that builds up some nice momentum and has some great guitar playing while “Freedom engines” is the standout track on the album for me with its quite build up and fuzzed out verse sections. The album ends with “Sleeping with the dogs” which mixes a bluesy, hard rock approach with some melody and a spaced out slowed down section towards the with a vocal line that sort of reminds me of Soundgarden’s “Black hole sun”.
I can’t help but feel like Sigiriya are holding themselves in check here. There’s a restraint in the songs and the playing that was absent on the debut. Along with the slightly more accessible sound and the new vocalist who will definitely broaden the fan base of the band, it all somehow feels a bit dodgy and doesn’t really work for me. Stuart O’Hara’s guitar playing is top class but missing the heaviness of the debut and while the rhythm section is rock solid, Pau Bidmead’s bass has lost the volume war on the mix and is a bit too soft.
Overall there really isn’t anything too wrong with this album apart from the fact that it is a lot more accessible than the debut and doesn’t quite have the same bite of “Return to earth”. Check it out if you like some straight up stoner friendly hard rock or if you really liked the debut album. Not a lot else to recommend for anyone else.
- Information
- Released: 2014
- Label: Candlelight
- Website: Sigiriya Facebook
- Band
- Matt Williams: vocals
- Stuart O’Hara: guitars
- Paul Bidmead: bass
- Darren Ivey: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Dragging the Bones
- 02. Guided by Mountains
- 03. Return to Earth
- 04. Godspeeder
- 05. Tribe of the Old Oak
- 06. Obelisk
- 07. Freedom Engine
- 08. Sleeping with the Dogs
