The Sun Explodes - 

The Calm, The Storm

by Luke Athorn - 20 May 2015

Carlisle’s finest prog-metallers - The Sun Explodes - follow up 2013’s We Build Mountains with their new EP The Calm, The Storm.

First off, whilst We Build Mountains was on the whole a very good album, it did leave some room for improvement. Thankfully, with The Calm, The Storm, that room has been well and truly shuffled into, the result of which is an EP full of masterfully crafted, adventurous, modern progressive-metal. 

Opening track, The Calm, is exactly as the title implies – at least to begin with. The serenity of the guitar and vocal intro is relatively short-lived, and soon makes way for an amalgamation of ominous, almost doom-metal riffs which see the song through to the end.

For those already familiar with the band, it will come as no surprise that the musicianship once again reaches a staggeringly high level. What is a surprise however, is how accessible each song is despite their respective complexities. Often bands that place such importance on the technical side of things create albums that need to be listened to a number of times before it begins to sink in, but ‘The Calm, The Storm’ reels the listener in almost instantly.

The rather infectious The Grand Design is probably the stand out track here, although admittedly it’s a tough one to call, as the frenetic unpredictability of The Unnatural and the sheer beauty of closing track Storm of Light run it mighty close.

In short, this is an almost flawless display of progressive brilliance which will no doubt make its way into a few end of year top five lists. It should also make its way into your record collection.