Back in February, Niklas Sundlin felt that the time was right to let some of his creative ideas which didn’t quite fit for Dark Tranquillity gain a life and identity of their own. ‘Mitochondrial Sun’, the self-titled debut album of the project was an interesting release which was full of these compositions which had been given a chance to shine on their own. A rather unconventional instrumental release, one which required significant focus and attention in order to fully take in the depth of the compositions and the sounds on offer, the release piqued my interest and it brought up a small debate of sorts – what exactly constitutes a song? Given that the debut release required approaching it from a different angle, one where you would be better served approaching it as if you were listening to the score of a movie, seeing where tracks fit together or what type of scene they would work with yielded results and shown off the creativity and depth of these ideas which can stand alone or would work extremely well in conjunction with an existing musical movement.
Moving on from the debut, “Sju Pulsarer” brings forth more musical ideas given life from the legendary Swedish musician. Whilst the debut album was more atmospheric and dealt with elements of synthwave, darkwave and ambience, “Sju Pulsarer” seems to be geared more to the extreme metal side of things. With a heavier presence of harsh distorted guitars and haunting synth and sample elements, this 8-track release is more chaotic and unrestrained, leaning more to the wilder nature of instrumental music. So, with that said, let us explore the seven pulsars and see the secrets they hold.
A concept album of sorts in terms of track naming; Pulsar One through to Seven, ending with ‘Noll Och Intet’ (Zero and Nothing), each track has more of an organic flow to it in terms of how the tracks blend together in places, leading to a more continuous instrumental composition. From the opening bars of ‘Pulsar One’, you are hit with a wave of aggressive and dissonant sounding guitars droning. Crashing drums, piercing and lingering synths haunt the air and most of all, the atmosphere of the track is formidable – it presses against you much like the depths of the ocean, surrounding you and crushing you with its might. In terms of comparison to more conventional works, you could say that it is akin to the more extreme elements of Melodic Death Metal and Black Metal with the raw approach, favouring the descent into entropy with its sustained sonic assault.
This trend continues throughout as the musical movements take us from pulsar to pulsar like some kind of galactic adventure. If Pulsar One was like a mighty ocean planet, relentless with its currents and pressure, then Pulsar Two is like a haunting swamp. The lingering clean arpeggios and unease which slithers through them as the intense distortion picks up the pace is like following the whisps of light which lure unsuspecting travellers to their doom in the treacherous waters. Grandiose sounding bursts of melodic guitars act as a counterpoint to the buzzing rhythms and as they ascend and descend giving some distinct shapes to each part of the track, you can feel yourself being drawn in more and more. “Pulsar Three” is a fantastic groove driven attack. The cruising feel of the double-kick fuelled drums and melodic ringing of the trem-picked guitars is a pleasure to experience and it is almost as if you have escaped the sinking depths and are cruising to freedom or weathering blistering winds in an unrelenting desert like wasteland. The subtle shifts from piercing melodies to riff driven grooves and rhythmic hypnosis are delivered superbly and you could actually picture this piece being performed live by a band, it has that hook which feels so familiar and I will admit to listening to this track several times more than the rest of them!
As the journey through the pulsars continues towards nothing, “Pulsar Four” is a more familiar sounding slice of pseudo-black metal, akin to the likes of Borknagar. It has the haunting melodic aspects to it in conjunction with the harshness and rawness you would expect from a black metal band who expand on their sound to incorporate more elements than pressing heaviness and the subtle shifts in “Pulsar Five” which steer it back towards the wild and entropic nature of the earlier tracks acts as a fantastic switch over, beginning the final stretch of the journey much like how it started at the first pulsar – a harsh and dissonant attack with intense synth elements. “Pulsar Six” jumps about, initially intense and chaotic, it shifts to more melodic and groove driven sections, adding in hook laden synth melodies which feel like the guitar harmonies you would expect to hear on a melodic death metal album before it shifts to a piano and sample driven slowdown section which leads into the end of the track and the final pulsar. “Pulsar Seven” is a brighter feeling track compared to the rest of the release. More melodic and familiar as it could well pass off as a stand alone melodic death metal track, it acts like a light at the end of this chaotic journey – peaks of melodic guitars rise from the solid rhythmic attack before it fades into silence, signalling the ultimate destination; “Noll Och Intet”.
With a haunting synth drone opening the track, joined in by lingering and sustained string like sounds, it feels like you are standing on the edge, almost as if you are being dared to look into the abyss and to see if anything looks back at you. Vast and empty, yet still with a vibrant feel, it is a contradiction, it is all and it is nothing. The track itself could act fine as a transitional moment, but at the same time it is there, a solid and established entity daring you to take the plunge into the centre of the chaotic vortex that is Sju Pulsarer!
With “Sju Pulsarer”, Niklas has managed to create a fantastic compositional contrast to “Mitochondrial Sun”. It serves as the Yin to the Yang, the lock for the key, the night to the day… It is a fine release which shows even more of Sundlin’s creative vision and again, serves well as an unconventional instrumental release. Much like the first album, the tracks here cannot realistically be approached in the way you would usually expect to listen to an instrumental movement. Once again, you have to create a mental image or series of events as the tracks progress, allowing you to experience it much like you would the score to a movie. With “Sju Pulsarer”, Sundlin has given more familiarity in the music with the more metal leaning elements in the sound, but whilst it might be more metal friendly, it is not your typical metal experience. What “Sju Pulsarer” is, only the listener can truly decide… To me, it’s the journey to the centre of a galaxy, hitting that point where the only way to know what lies at the heart of it is to take the plunge. So do it, ride the currents and head to the centre of the musical maelstrom!
(8/10 Fraggle)
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