On the Radar: SotiS
I think what I like best about there being a band called SotiS is that there’s also a band called Sothis, and I have no problem admitting that. What specifically I enjoy about it is I’m pretty sure the Australian double-guitar riffing four-piece formed with no knowledge of the prior Sothis, who hail from Los Angeles and are kind of a mediocre glam version of Dimmu Borgir (though with any mention of Dimmu Borgir, “mediocre” should be implied — snap!). There are only so many ideas in the universe, and some of them involve removing an ‘h.’
Good fun. SotiS — who also share an unnecessarily capitalized second ‘s’ with Belgian doom exports SardoniS — have two songs up on their MySpace for listening, and though they’re sans vocals, there’s nothing wrong with the new home studio garage-style sound they emit. It’s straightforward instrumental stoner metal, not necessarily exotic even from SotiS‘ locale in Victoria, Australia, but decent sounding and not a terrible way to pass the seven or eight minutes it will take to listen. “Children of the Apocalypse” is the more developed of the two, while “Murder” is more or less crunch the whole way through. Not a complaint.
They may or may not have an album called A New Deadly Intravenous in the works/recently finished — it’s kind of hard to tell from their bio, which relies on “Ten thousand thundering typhoons on a taste bud…” and other such image-laden ambiguity rather than the actual dissemination of info — but either way, the two posted tracks prove that even in the farthest corners of this round planet the power of the riff can take hold and compel. I’d perhaps like to hear more interaction between the two guitars on future offerings, but SotiS have made an enticing start. I’ll certainly take them over Sothis any day.
Tags: Australia, Brown Note, SotiS
