{"id":184039,"date":"2025-10-07T23:05:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T23:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/184039\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T23:05:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T23:05:06","slug":"sundrowned-higanbana-review-angry-metal-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/184039\/","title":{"rendered":"Sundrowned – Higanbana Review | Angry Metal Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"2013 wasn\u2019t that long ago, was it? Yet it seems that Deafheaven\u2019s opus, Sunbather, didn\u2019t need long to become enough of a genre classic to inspire countless groups in pursuit of a paradoxically harsh yet dreamy musical experience. It was more than likely the inspiration for the name Sundrowned, a relatively new post-black band from Haugesund, Norway. Their debut album, Become Ethereal<\/a>, didn\u2019t make much of an impression on El Cuervo in 2021 and now it\u2019s my turn for some solar exposure in the form of Higanbana. Has Sundrowned set out with a life preserver this time or is this another cautionary tale about the hidden hazards of Sunbathing?<\/p>\n

As it turns out, Sundrowned sounds more like a distant relative of Sunbather rather than a direct heir. While there is a faint resemblance to Deafheaven\u2019s softer side, most of the aggression has been watered down or stripped out completely. Though billed as post-black, what remains is post-metal of the sparkly variety like unto Asth\u00e9nie. The hazy shoegaze of Become Ethereal still appears in the form of distorted walls of sound during the heavier parts. The increased emphasis on post-metal is a good thing for Higanbana, giving it a more defined shape and structure which suits the deep, growling vocal style better than the meandering, gazey Become Ethereal.<\/p>\n

\ufeffHiganbana by Sundrowned<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet, despite marginal improvements, many of Sundrowned\u2019s prior deficiencies persist into Higanbana. For the most part, they have not fixed the problem of aimlessly drifting to and fro. \u201cIlex\u201d is the exception to this, with a buildup that feels smooth and purposeful thanks in large part to G.L. Innocent\u2019s dynamic drum performance. Furthermore, post-metal and shoegaze are genres that live or die by their emotional resonance, and Higanbana falls short in this crucial area. Though the instrumentation is highly pleasant, it doesn\u2019t compensate for the vocals. The passionless growls feel almost obligatory, as if only there to prove Sundrowned\u2019s metal pedigree. Admittedly, at times Higanbana has been a soothing balm to my mind after work. Nevertheless, it\u2019s essentially the sonic equivalent of Jell-O\u2014sweet but not substantial or filling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Also like Jell-O, it\u2019s mostly homogeneous. Whether you like the first track, \u201cBarren,\u201d is a good indicator of whether you should continue consuming, as the menu doesn\u2019t change much. With the exception of the aforementioned \u201cIlex,\u201d I still cannot differentiate between the songs without checking. The vocals are the biggest culprit, with very little variance in pitch or intensity in the croaking delivery. As for the compositions, the chunkier bits are the least enticing or memorable (again, as with Jell-O). Where Sundrowned shines is in the serene sections, but these tend to be interrupted, seemingly at random, by fuzzy walls of sound that come out of nowhere (\u201cWisteria,\u201d \u201cBarren\u201d). Another way to think of Higanbana is the jellyfish scene from Finding Nemo\u2014the surroundings are captivating at first but make it nigh impossible to orient oneself.<\/p>\n

Try as I might, I can\u2019t see how Higanbana was designed to be anything but background music. Nearly everything about it seems intent to reward passive listens and punish attentive ones. Though it is a marked improvement from the debut, it will likely only work for those looking for a relaxing audio adornment. Higanbana probably would have fared better with more songs in the vein of \u201cIlex.\u201d As things stand, Sundrowned is not the spiritual successor to the legendary Sunbather that I was hoping for.<\/p>\n

Rating: 2.0\/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Fysisk Format<\/a>
Websites: sundrownedband.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/SundrownedBand<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: September 26th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2013 wasn\u2019t that long ago, was it? Yet it seems that Deafheaven\u2019s opus, Sunbather, didn\u2019t need long to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[81406,2325,81407,81408,96,81409,81410,128,55181,73025,263,129,55182,39211,81411,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-184039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-2-0","9":"tag-2325","10":"tag-asthenie","11":"tag-deafheaven","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-fysisk-format","14":"tag-higanbana","15":"tag-music","16":"tag-norwegian-metal","17":"tag-post-metal","18":"tag-review","19":"tag-reviews","20":"tag-sep25","21":"tag-shoegaze","22":"tag-sundrowned","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom","25":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}