Contackt by Sungod

There are few bands that sound truly timeless, however the experience of listening to Sungod is like stepping outside the timeline of modern music. The list of influences that comes to mind throughout the procession of Contackt is daunting, as if the band has absorbed lifetimes of music into their consciousness. Metal, psychedelic-rock, prog, ambient, kraut-rock, and minimalism are all combined and tempered into a single multi-dimensional body. Genuinely gifted musicianship radiates out of this full length, spanning between heavy walls of shredding and refined ambient compositions. Warm beds of tonal harmony form a foundation for elastic-analog synth rhythms to playfully transverse the psyche, while lucid guitar solos slice through the mix with focused aggression, circling around each other in a disorienting cosmic smog. The whole mood of this record breathes with a living energy that is conjured up by the elevated drumming of Sharp, who is known to go into a shamanistic, trance-like state when the band plays live. Perhaps best described as “stoner-kraut”, guitar/synth player Braden Balentine and drummer/guitarist Mike Sharp form the core of one of Austin’s finest psyche outfits. There are few bands from any decade who delve as deep into the abyss of psychedelia like Sungod, but by today’s standards they are an even more endangered species.

A star exploded 4.5 billion years ago and set in motion the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud...

Great Cosmic Music, Ancient to the Future

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