One Listen Review
1st Listen 15 Oct 26
Reviewed 16 Oct 26
Sidus – Lotus
dunk! Records, A Thousand Arms, Black Box Records
Released 16 Oct 26
Lotus is the debut album by Berlin based, but originally from Greece, post-metal outfit Sidus. It is a concept album, built around ‘a journey into the darker and less understood corners of human experience’. The crunch is that it is an ‘instrumental album’.
At just short of 42 minutes long, Sidus don’t take up too much time exploring the concept. The 7 tracks on offer are interesting, throwing up numerous bits of light and shade, intense and relaxed riffs share the same song and there is even an almost ambient ‘palate-cleanser’ half way through for a bit of respite. So far so good, the instrumental nature of the album is not repetitive.
Yet it is.
This is the issue with instrumentals, all the ideas in the world can be included in a song and, to my ears, it sometimes misses something. However, Lotus does manage to avoid intrinsic repetition and the songs are well structured, meaning
the lack of vocals is not overly important.
Album opener, ‘Origins Beneath’ begins with a restrained, almost doom-like riff before the pace increases and the track fully develops into a subtle slab of glory. ‘Chasmal’ follows, with a growing sense of intensity in places. The riff creates a questioning atmosphere and I had a wee smile at this.
Then CURVEBALL!
‘Embrace the Void’ reverts back to a slower build again, but then the track explodes as the guest vocalist, Serp Taski from Bipolar Architecture adds his considerable presence to the track. Suddenly, with the addition of vocals, the album explodes. The undiluted filth of the dirty vocals raises the bar for Sidus and ushers in a new dimension.
The album is, as I said, mostly instrumental, but this isn’t an issue. Sidus are not set in this mode and the remainder of the album benefits from it. Suddenly, the meaty riff nearly 3 minutes into ‘Soul Gazing’ has a little extra oomph, ‘Divine Paradox’ delivers a package of urgency and introspection that seeps into your mind. You are left enjoying the music, and not being upset at no lyrics.
The final song, ‘Lotus’, is the longest, almost 9 minutes long. But fear not – after the longish intro, the vocals return again, once again adding a dimension to the track. Let’s face it, a 9 minute closing instrumental track could be challenging!
Lotus is a good, but not great, listen. It is incredibly well constructed and in giving 2 tracks with vocals, they avoid falling into the trap of just riffs for riffs sake. At times, the riffs actually seem to speak to you.
Sidus have given a good account of themselves for their debut and Lotus could be a great album for you to chill-out to, especially if you have a sore throat and don’t want to sing along.
Leave a Reply