Amazing as it may seem, the music presented by
Dark Suns' debut album, 2002's Swanlike, didn't just measure up to its flamboyant title, it helped put Germany on the death/doom map along with this upstart group from Leipzig. Sure, with its multiple moods and hard/soft passages, guttural death growls, and mild-mannered clean vocals, tittering double bass patterns and densely harmonic, mega-riff coda strung out over an 11-minute bulk, the opening title track actually recalls progressive death metal giants
Opeth. But even more than the hallowed Swedish quartet, subsequent offerings quickly confirm
Dark Suns' closest sonic parallel to be Chicago horror-doom depressives
November's Doom -- emphasis on doom. Hear the stunning, wraith-like piano initiating the at times still uptempo and almost singalong "Infiltration," then swoon underneath the sorrowful strings and heartbreaking dual guitar harmonies of "The Sun Beyond Your Eden" -- a combination that anticipates the rise of Finland's brilliant
Swallow the Sun a few years later. The less distinctive "Virtuous Dilemma" gets decidedly lost amid its superior surroundings, which continue through album's end thanks to the alternating death metal fury and graceful acoustic strumming of "The Neverending," an "instrumental conversion" of ancient demo cut "In Silent Harmony II" that's all mellow synths and bongos, and the almost hopeful melodies of "Inside Final Dreams," where vocalist/drummer Niko Knappe's dramatically dead pan recitation proffers another link to
November's Doom, even while whale and bird cries twist and mingle in the wind. A 14-minute bonus cut called (aptly enough) "Suffering," and originating in the band's 1998 EP, is tacked on for good measure, and despite more than its share of moments, reveals just how far
Dark Suns had come since its inception to deliver in Swanlike one of the standout death metal/doom metal albums of 2002. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia