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.
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