SNØGG — Ritual of the Sun (review)

SNØGG — Ritual of the Sun album cover Album · 2020 · Drone Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
SNØGG is a duo from Velenje, Slovenia that has been around since 2013 but has only put out a couple releases so far. The debut “Chhinnamasta” released in 2019 found SNØGG in the world of atmospheric black metal without much to set it apart from the legions of similar acts. The band utilized the expected aggressive distorted riffing, raspy vocals and dark atmospheric overlays. Add to that some occasionally proggy time signature deviations and some excellent musicianship but overall a pretty average run-of-the-mill affair.

The duo’s second coming, RITUAL OF THE SUN is an altogether different beast that features a single 37 1/2 minute track that presumably represents exactly what the album / track title signifies and indeed this dark ambient affair truly does exude the characteristics of a long drawn out ritual that is designed to appease the gods / spirits in a way only a cult insider would understand. This time around SNØGG pretty much ditched the black metal altogether and left us with an album’s worth of droning, dark ambience and repetitive chanting. Even the vocals have left the realms of black metal but if you’ve heard the first release it’s easy to tell these are the same guys.

I agree with the consensus that these guys are really good at the ambient build up that roughly takes up the first third of the album and then really drops the ball and the wimpy (supposedly) black metal middle part which doesn’t even really sound like black metal at all. It’s more like power chords accompanying a repetitive chant that reminds me of the 1970 title track on Black Widow’s “Sacrifice” album with about the same amount of effect. After the lackluster metal contrast, the album continues with a bunch of synthesized swirlies for a lengthy outro but becomes too abstract and amorphous for its own good.

Yep, these guys had great ambitions with this one indeed but the efficacy of the results is actually fairly disappointing. It’s hard to believe that SNØGG has emerged from the same lands that spawned Devil Doll, one of my favorite eccentric prog / metal artists that totally nailed the art of lengthy track long albums but being from Slovenia doesn’t guarantee great talent alone. Not a total waste of time if you don’t take it too seriously. This is a pleasant mix of dark ambient sounds that serve well as background music but this is hardly an album that effectively conjures up the proper spells for an effective ritual and is definitely not something i will ever visit again. Back to the drawing board, guys.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed