Western Pennsylvania outfit Under the Sun have about as formidable a résumé as any doom rock band from the eastern half of the US could hope for. Between the three players involved, there are members of Dream Death, Penance, Revelation, Pentagram, Place of Skulls, Cathedral and Internal Void – and most of that just applies to drummer Mike Smail. Guitarist/bassist Dave Roman is also Penance alumni, and vocalist Dennis Cornelius did time in Place of Skulls and is perhaps best known as the former singer of Revelation, but Smail’s pedigree accounts for the rest, giving him a host of influential acts in which he’s been involved. Imagine being able to say you were in Dream Death, Cathedral (before they recorded Forest of Equilibrium) and Pentagram. Not what you’d call a lightweight, and as the impresario behind the release of Under the Sun’s debut full-length, Man of Sorrow, through his Smail’s Custom Drum Shop imprint, his role in the band takes on even more heft.

In case you were wondering, there actually is a Smail’s Custom Drum Shop, about 45 minutes outside of Pittsburgh in a town called Kittanning, where Smail offers lessons and sells – as you might guess – drums and other equipment, but in Under the Sun, the focus is on traditional American-style riff-led doom. Cuts like “Joy” and “Forgiveness” offer the kind of Christian-based lyrics that fans of Place of Skulls have come to expect from a certain segment of East Coast doomers, but where Man of Sorrow really hits its stride in the heavier, riffier songs like “To Sleep with Anger” or the more brightly toned “Divinity,” which injects a faster-paced Goatsnake feel into its Pentagram-style shuffle, Cornelius’ cadence and phrasing only helping the comparison, at least until the section of whispers about three minutes in. On the nine-minute opener, “Stride,” he comes on strong with a kind of overdrive effect on his vocals that I’m glad isn’t a permanent fixture. With the lighter hues coming from Roman’s guitar, interplay of acoustics and electrics, and underlying (maybe underrepresented for doom, but nonetheless appropriately balanced for the mixture Under the Sun have going on) bass, it can be a bit much, but like I say, it doesn’t last, and the layered guitar solos – in the Iommi tradition – more than stand up in making a case for the success of the song as a whole.

Man of Sorrow was recorded digitally and it sounds it in parts, sounds pieced together in the modern way. That comes out most of all on the closing title track, which is made up of a Native American spoken word showcase that then transitions into one of Under the Sun’s lighter-style grooves before the music drops out completely and Roman plucks bittersweet acoustic notes to lead into the song’s final movement. Despite having the best and most present bassline on the record, the song feels cobbled and the flow from one part to the next is awkward. In the context of the album as a whole, the long fadeout has a place, but even so, its semi-experimental feel seems incongruous after the preceding six considerable demonstrations of songwriting. Even with Cornelius high in the mix as he is almost universally, a song like “Bruised” takes a much more direct route in accomplishing what it sets out to, and is all the more memorable and effective for it, where “Man of Sorrow” seems confused and wandering.

Between that strength of songcraft and the skill with which Under the Sun otherwise blends their influences, I’m not especially worried about the misstep. A new three-song EP from the band finds them once again displaying individuality within doom and rock, and there’s still plenty of material on Man of Sorrow that followers of traditional American doom will grasp onto. The album isn’t so dissimilar in vibe from some of Against Nature’s work – Cornelius’ prior involvement in Revelation, which shares all three of its members with Against Nature, being the connection in terms of personnel – at times lighthearted and easy going and at times more spiritually defeated. As low as Man of Sorrow gets, though, the maintained element of faith keeps a hopeful feeling present at all times. It sounds grown up, because it is, and the interplay of Smail and Roman – even recorded as they are here with the latter handling both bass and guitar – and melodic sensibility of Cornelius make Under the Sun well worth watching going forward. Another line on several already impressive curricula vitae.

Smail’s Custom Drum Shop

Tags: Pennsylvania, Smail's Custom Drum Shop, Under the Sun

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 12th, 2011 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.