Sunder- Sunder CD (Crusher Records CRCD030)

Sunder is the band that formed out of the Graveyard inspired French band, the Socks… This band sounds a lot like the Socks but just with an added organ and more laid back vocals style at times and Julien not trying to sound like the Graveyard singer. It is booked as heavy psychedelic but it is not. What is psychedelic about this is?? IT is rock and roll with an organ… that does not make it psychedelic.. The Spacious Mind is heavy psychedelic rock music; think old Monster Magnet, BONG, etc.  I am really annoyed about this.. Ok. So what is the album like?  Deadly Flower starts the record off with a organ and then the hard hitting guitar riffs kick in and off we go. The song focuses heavily on the vocals and guitar of Julien but there is a nice organ-guitar section but quite short in this 3 and half min track. Cursed Wolf is the single from the album and also came out as a limited edition flexi disc (with a demo version on the B-side). This is a more melodic rock track but it gets pretty hard-hitting and intense as it builds up and again a heavy focus on the singing. Daughter of the Snows is beginning to sound like the other songs as the organ sounds are used in a very similar way on nearly every song. This track has a really cool groove though and you sort of get sucked in but it ends before 3mins. Wings of the Sun again is played at nearly the same pace as the previous 3 songs but starts with a nice instrumental section and then is lead by the Farfisa organ. This track they try to be a bit more 60s like in the vocals (lyrics) and organ. The music is hard rock.  Side 2 starts with Bleeding Trees, which has a nice drum and vocal build up before a more hard rocking riff kicks in but this tempered by the more laid back vocal. Instead of Farfisa they have some mellotron pads on this track. Eye Catcher is a pretty catchy track with a nice bass line but the track is way to short. Thunder and Storm has the mellotron pushed to the front in this intense track. The drumming is great and a more psychedelic guitar solo but very short. Don’t leave behind is the first slower track with more mellotron and reminds me of Graveyard but Julien has given up trying to sound exactly like Joakim. Lucid Dreams ends this sort of more hard rocking 60s inspired (lyrics, organ) record. IT is a bit more dreamy. Think the Socks plus a Farfisa organ (and some mellotron) and you get the record more or less. I just don’t get hooked on their short 3-4 mins songs that makeup this record.  It lacks a bit in that all the songs are mid paced to fast and lack a lot of dynamics. The whole record just goes by in 30mins and there is not enough uniqueness to really grab me. I heard this one like 5 times and I still not digging it that much. Check them out..

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