### Sonne Adam: Doctrines of dark devotion

#### 30/11/12 || gk

Israel’s Sonne Adam have been getting a fair bit of press in underground death metal circles on the back of their very promising debut “Transformation” from 2011. Now, just over a year after that album, the band is back with all new material in the EP “Doctrines of dark devotion”.

The essential template of the band’s death doom remains unchanged for this EP but there is an increased reliance on atmosphere and a slightly blackened tinge to some of the riffing. I guess musically this is most similar to Germans Necros Christos with these Israelis too dealing with the occult and Satanism while staying true to their old school death metal roots. The big difference from the debut is that the sound on this EP is murkier and this actually helps these songs in creating a thick impenetrable atmosphere. “The day I choose to rot” is a case in point. The mid paced stomp of the song comes alive around the middle section as the band locks down on a hypnotic riff with those heavily reverbed vocals standing front and centre and a snaky guitar line weaving its way at the back. Elsewhere on the EP, “The deceiver of the desolations” is an atmospheric instrumental that goes nowhere fast and seems like a waste of time but things come to a close with “Olam belehavoth” which starts with a slow and measured pace and gradually gets heavier even as the tempo remains largely unchanged through these 6 odd minutes and is a pretty strong finish to the EP.

The band seems to have gotten a bit more doom here. At least, the song tempos are all on the mid-paced to slow side of things and it works. Occasionally, like on the above mentioned instrumental, things just get a bit boring and frustrating with nothing really happening at all on the song. Still, there’s enough good stuff here to make this release worth checking out for fans of old school death metal.

The potential the band showed on their debut is on its way to being fully realized and “Doctrines of dark devotion” should please fans of the band. Sonne Adam continue to be an interesting band and well worth keeping an eye on.

- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Imperium Productions
- Website: Sonne Adam MySpace
- Band
- Davidov: vocals, guitars
- Vitaly: guitars
- Butcher: bass
- Steel: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Hater of Mankind
- 02. The Day I Chose to Rot
- 03. World of Everlasting Darkness
- 04. Bestow the Crown of Death
- 05. The Deceiver of the Desolations
- 06. Olam Belehavoth