SednA - The Man Behind the Sun

Angry Metal Guy

Today, dear reader, we consider the single-song, full-length LP. Nearly non-existent in most forms of popular music, the one-track album is an established, indeed a growing part of the metal landscape. The mere mention of the topic will no doubt bring to most minds the same handful of albums, proving that if a band’s goal is notoriety, dropping a single composition lasting anywhere from 40 to, oh, I don’t know, let’s say 83 minutes is a sure way to turn heads. Such works are obviously ambitious in the artistic sense, but they’re also ballsy. For any band to assume their audience has the attention span to stick with them through a feature film-length ditty, let alone want to return for repeat listens, shows a certain amount of moxie. When it comes to single song marathons, 33-minute The Man Behind the Sun, Italian band SednA‘s third full-length, isn’t so much Avengers: Endgame level as it is standard sitcom episode, but it’s a bold move nonetheless. So what’s in it for the patient listener?

SednA is, on its face, a black metal band, and this isn’t their first foray into long songwriting. Their previous album Eterno boasted a 21-minute track, but as with any black-ish band with extended runtimes, other stylistic influences are necessarily present to warrant the long-windedness. Listening to The Man Behind the Sun, it’s obvious that SednA is indebted as much to Isis as Immortal, if not more so. Tremolos, blast beats, and standard black metal vocals alternate with stretches of doomy post-metal to create a kind of tidal ebb and flow that defines the song’s overarching structure. During the post-metal ebbs, guitar lines are minimal but affecting, and vocals are largely absent. This oceanic (get it?) movement could be a mesmerizing tool that pulls in the listener, were it wielded by a more capable band. On The Man Behind the Sun, it mostly leaves the impression of passive repetition.

When I think of the best examples of one track albums, each is equally successful in both the “How” and the “Why.” Sleep‘s Dopesmoker is a pot fueled monument to “drop(ping) out of life with a bong in hand,” and that concept is backed up with a mind-numbing riff fest. Insomnium‘s Winter’s Gate presents a single cohesive narrative of a Viking journey with a multifaceted journey of a song. Inter Arma released the prog-minded, guest musician heavy The Cavern shortly after the chimerical Sky Burial to double down on their genre-defying unpredictability. Monolithe looked at funeral doom, a style built on interminable tests of depressive endurance and said “Hold my beer.” Bell Witch, in the wake of deep personal loss, tapped them on the shoulder and said “No, YOU hold MY beer.” SednA describes The Man Behind the Sun as a closing statement on their previous direction as a band before “delving into new galaxies.” If this is indeed an exclamation point at the end of a thematic sentence, I can give them a pass on the “Why.” The “How” is a bigger issue.

Instrumentally, the album is competently played by a band that clearly has the chops to pull off some killer music, but issues with songwriting that could possibly be concealed in a four or five minute song are glaring across 33 unbroken minutes. Think of it like this: if single song albums are mountains for the listener to climb, The Man Behind the Sun offers no rocky outcroppings for footholds. The aforementioned wave-like motion of the composition offers few, if any surprises. The blackened riffs are standard fare, leaving post-metal atmospheric guitars to do a lot of the lifting. Those simple melodies tend to be highlights, but don’t carry enough substance to prop up the song’s memorability. There is—too predictably—a shift that occurs just after midway, when things grow quiet before a bass line and vocal style change-up seem to announce a new direction. Unfortunately, this is followed by more of the same black/post tradeoffs.

One song albums are high risk/high reward endeavors. When they hit, they hit hard, but when they miss, they pretty much guarantee a listener will never feel the desire to spin them again. Whatever new direction SednA takes as a band after unburdening themselves of this ponderous closing statement, I hope they find success. I have to applaud them for their ambition, but with The Man Behind the Sun, their reach exceeds their grasp.



Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Spikerot Records
Websites: sednablack.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/sedna.o
Releases Worldwide: September 13th, 2019

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