Suffering records for suffering people.

I don’t often find a record so hard to review. I can describe the sound of Suffering Luna in a very short phrase : powerviolence injected hardcore, focusing mainly on slow tempos, with a strong electronic and psychedelic vibe to it. Yeah. Sure. No, that’s not enough. You can describe Sunn O))) or Earth as slow music, you will still say something true but you won’t get the point. Suffering Luna is much more a bunch of slow hardcore songs fueled with weird sounds. Suffering Luna is a metaphysical journey into the depths of own’s mind and, mostly, soul, channeled with the music that was rampaging in the early 90’s in California. This band existed since the early 1990s and managed to release a very short list of records, one split EP and one split 12″ being more precisely, before this full length under To Live A Lie. Despite the huge inspiration that was flowing through the members of the band, their personal issues, drugs, cops and so on managed to destroy their talent. This record shows a band with a renewed power and with the will to explore the darkest depths of own’s minds. As I’ve stated above, if you strip down the songs you can find a strong hardcore/powerviolence songwriting style, not so far from the mighty Man Is The Bastard. Just like the skull masters Suffering Line enhanched their sound with electronic and weird influences, recording something not too far from latest Bastard Noise’s full lenght A Culture Of Monsters. You just have to switch the jazzy and industrial influences with something more connected to tribalism and space and you will have Suffering Luna self titled album. This kind of shades are not common in this genre, so, after a bunch of awkward listenings, I was hooked by the feelings that this band can trasmit. Space, infinite abysses, mind travelling, deep connection to your roots. Everything can pop out in your mind while listening to this album and, if I have to point out a song that captures the feelings I’m trying to explain, it would surely be Paranoid Delusions, a long journey splitted in three episodes. You don’t see a suite in an hardcore album quite often, don’t you? Suffering Luna can trasmit a lot of different emotions, from sense of freedom to an haunting feeling of oppression. I think all the issues the members’ have to deal with in the past are coming out in these songs, which can act as a sort of relieving ritual. This record shows another time how powerviolence in its wider conception can be such a stimulating and thought-provoking genre. Bastard Noise taught us that there’s no limit in music to express your frustrations, your feelings, your statements. Suffering Luna showed us that they learned the lession and improved it with something different from the classic use of noise, power electronics and so on. Tribal, kraut, space, psychedelia. Everything can fit for recreating the paranoia of life. If this is your first time with Suffering Luna, don’t stop after the first listening, force yourself to dig something more and you will find a shining gem to add to your summer classics.

On a sidenote : this record will be pressed in 500 copies by To Live A Lie, first 100 coming in marbled vinyl with a bonus CD. This record features three songs and a 24 minutes long live in studio.

~ by petetheripper on June 22, 2011.