OK, so Suns of the Tundra are a Prog Metal/Rock band from England. Back in the early '90's they went by the name "Peach", which hardcore Tool fans may recognise as bassist Justin Chancellor's original band. Peach broke up around the same time Chancellor joined Tool, in 1995. A few years later there was a renewed interest in Peach, thanks in large part to Tool covering a couple of songs live in the late '90's (You Lied & Spasm, the former released on Tool's Salival compilation), so their 1993 debut album "Giving Birth to a Stone" was reissued in 2000 (along with new cover art by Adam Jones, Tool's guitarist). They then reformed (sans Chancellor) under the name Suns of the Tundra, releasing self-titled album in 2004, "Tunguska" in 2006, & an EP "Illuminate" in 2009. They'll have a double album coming out in the near future called "Bones of Brave Ships". I had picked at them occasionally over the last 6 years or so, listening to a song here and there, but nothing really stuck... until the past 2-3 months when I gave Tunguska a proper go and everything just clicked. Now I think these guys are criminally underrated and deserve a hell of a lot more attention, so check them out! (From the Illuminate EP) [video=youtube;dALfyJvPXDI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dALfyJvPXDI[/video] (Full 2006 album Tunguska) [video=youtube;3XUXffmKtbw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XUXffmKtbw[/video] (From 2004 Self-titled) [video=youtube;RLnMU_t23-M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLnMU_t23-M[/video]
Yay, snared one! No problem, just spreading the love. You can get their diital EP on their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suns-of-the-Tundra/110273055808299 Or possibly iTunes. And their other CD's can only be bought on their website (to my knowledge) http://www.sunsofthetundra.co.uk/
I figured I'd link the songs for their 2004 Self-titled in order, since those songs are scattered around youtube: 1. Paper Wraps Stone 2. Telescopic Misanthropy* 3. Minus 4. Redeye 5. Bottlenecked* 6. Splinters* 7. Scissors Cut Paper* 8. Syzygy, Part I 9. Syzygy, Part II (Interlude) 10. Syzygy, Part III* *= What I think are the best songs on the album. Also for anyone interested, from their facebook page, news on Bones of Brave Ships will be posted "within a week".
Digital download of SotT's 2006 album Tunguska is now available to buy on iTunes, & from their facebook store: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suns...8299?sk=app_470868196288052&ref=page_internal -------- Also, they're aiming to release their new double album, Bones of Brave Ships around March or April. They posted some artwork for it on their facebook page:
SotT have launched a kickstarter for the CD/Vinyl edition of Bones of Brave Ships. Their target is £3,300 by the 12th of February. Any pledges immediately get a download of new song "Serenity in Motion". https://www.kickstarter.com/project...dra-vinyl-fundraiser-bones-of-brave?ref=video There's clips of new music in the kickstarter video in the link above. Sounding great, I'm really looking forward to it. EDIT:Also: ---- Also, a "sneak peak" of the tracklist;
As much as I would like to help fund these guys (and get that 2LP + 2CD), I'm still not quite entirely sold on them. They're not bad, but not too terribly original either. I'll have to think about it.
Ah, I was once like you. Like I said earlier, they didn't click with me for years. If you want to give them a fair shake I'd recommend focusing on Tunguska and giving a solid 10 or 12 front to back listens (That's personally what I do, 10 to 12 full listens has proven to be the necessary amount for me to learn an album and decide how much I like it). Tunguska is definitely an "album" album. A lot of tracks flow together like they're one song split up, like Capsized>Capricorn Gone>Sandettie Light Automatic. And the production is great, IMO, those bass & guitar tones are droolworthy, and it has this "nautical" (for want of a better word) vibe that I really like (which is going to be perfect for Bones of Brave Ships as a soundtrack for an Antarctic expedition). Anyway, it's cool if you don't like 'em. Nothing is for everyone.
Figured I'd post Peach's album "Giving Birth to a Stone" so people can hear the origins of SotT. 01. Spasm (Covered by Tool in the late 90's) 02. Naked 03. Catfood (King Crimson cover) 04. Velvet 05. Dougal 06. Burn 07. Signpost in the Sea 08. You Lied (Covered by Tool in the late 90's, & again in recent years) 09. Don't Make Me Your God 10. Peach While the album was released in 1994, all the songs had been previously released on 4 EP's across 1992/93. There was another song on one of the '92 EP's that didn't make the first album but would have been on the second, "Disappear Here". Not sure if that version is from the EP or the re-recording that would have gone on the 2nd album (which would have come out in 1995), or possibly even re-recorded by SotT. There was also an EP in 1991, "Flow With the Tide", but none of those songs made the album & I can't find it on youtube.
SotT's Kickstarter has exceeded the minimum goal needed for funding the double vinyl/double CD edition, so it's definitely going ahead: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...dra-vinyl-fundraiser-bones-of-brave?ref=video But there's still a couple of days left before it closes completely (Thursday morning, 09:10 GMT) so if anyone reading this was on the fence about pledging there's time to snag a copy or even just get the digital download. ------ A clip from recording of Bones: [video=youtube;5IYJCb14FLc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IYJCb14FLc&feature=player_embedded[/video] And some pics
Bones of Brave Ships is out now. Full album streaming on Spotify, Deezer etc. & here on Youtube. Up on iTunes also. I'd say the first 8-10 songs are great, gets a bit scattered after that, with some tracks being call backs to earlier motifs (Elephant Island, Fear of Walking Away, Biast III), & a couple of tracks taking forever to get going with haunting, soundscape-y intros. Damn good album. Maybe great.. too soon to tell, it's a lot to take in at 81 minutes (17 tracks). Love the production, too. My favoutite tracks so far, Serenity in Motion: [video=youtube;rgoYtZHAZFE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgoYtZHAZFE[/video] Endurance: [video=youtube;lEh6V4HckRk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEh6V4HckRk[/video] Restless (Listen to the Clock): [video=youtube;_3c-qfxyMKs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3c-qfxyMKs[/video] Ghosts of Our Mothers: [video=youtube;2BiGy9frWNc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BiGy9frWNc[/video]