Sunken Seas – Null Hour (Muzai) CD REVIEW

WELLINGTON THREE-PIECE Sunken Seas describe their music as ‘space rock’, but the dark ambience of Null Hour remains stubbornly earthbound.
They’ve clearly fed themselves a restricted diet of Joy Division and derivatives – with a little early Cocteau Twins thrown in for good measure – although there’s also the odd suggestion that the potent industrial exhaust emissions of Skeptics, Bailter Space and Faust have been bottled and quaffed for inspiration.
Their big problem is that too many bands have been here before. It’s not that what they do is poor, just that doom-soaked walls of sound, drones and echoing fluctuations have all been musically interrogated by similar bands with bigger ambitions, and production/engineering with more crunch and depth.
There’s not enough bite at the top end, the vocals sound just a little bit self-conscious, and ultimately, their attempts to build themselves sonically into a seething, cavernous monster fall rather short of the mark.
But, I hasten to add, Null Hour isn’t without its moments, and the group’s incorporation of squiggly, bending synthesiser notes certainly gives them some sonic difference. Maybe next time. GARY STEEL
Sound = 3/5
Music = 3/5