Still the Sun is the debut album from Satinoxide whose style is described as progressive metal. And progressive it is, but do not expect vanilla progressive metal along the lines of Dream Theater and their many clones. Satinoxide's style is not as technical as that of many progressive metal bands, and nor are the tracks on this album as long and super complex in structure. Satinoxide's progressivity lies primarily in genre transgression, which I think is an essential progressive virtue – and, the song structures may not be supe complex, but they still are dynamic and they do break with the conventions of composition in popular music.
The main basic sound is that of metal, but Satinoxide draw on a lot of different subgenres within the metal universe. There is a bit of traditional metal, a bit of hard rock, a bit of symphonic metal, and a bit of power metal, and I would say that the overall style is quite melodic. However Satinoxide are not afraid to venture into exterme metal territory, and you can expect you be taken by surprise by blastbeats popping out of nowhere, and growled vocals appear quite often on this album (you can also expect clean male and female vocals, though). There also is a certain overall gothic metal feel to the album in general. This may be due to an ubuquitous melancholic piano that is overlaid on the distorted guitars, and I think it works well most of the time, although coming across a bit cheesy now and then. Satinoxide also draw on elements from outside of metal – most interestingly the Tibetan chanting in 'Three Stages of Being' and the theremin in 'Throbbing Pulse of Death'. Moreover, Marjon van Iwaarden from the Eurodance act 2 Unlimited makes a guest appearance on 'Strangers'.
In all, this is an interesting album, which draws on a lot of different sources, but which is also very focused. There is a lot of potential on this album, and I am very interested to see what the future has in store for Satinoxide. Surely, this release will appeal to fans of progressive metal, but I think that those who like symphonic metal and gothic metal will enjoy it, too, and – if they can tolerate the growling – some fans of AOR and hard rock might even like it, too.
Track Listing:
1. Claustrophobia
2. Longing
3. Nectar of Desire
4. Three Stages of Being
5. Sacred Ground
6. Strangers
7. Throbbing Pulse of Death
8. Still the Sun
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