Album Review: SundogProject ”“ Hex 1/Visions

SundogProject

[easyreview cat1title = “Hex 1/Visions” cat1rating = 3.5]

Hex1/Visions album art

To fans of nu-metal band Joint Family, brutal death metallers Narsil and psychedelic prog rock band Another Vertigo Rush, electro-industrial rock supergroup SundogProject’s debut full-length, Hex 1/Visions should come as good news. It’s mainly a product of frontman and principal songwriter Rahul Das, who has occasionally played with Joint Family and never promoted or released any of his solo music online.

The six-track album is dark and sparse, much like industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails at times, but also breaks out of any boxes. One of SundogProject’s earliest singles [the band was formed in 2012 and they released this track within two months], “Parhelion,” is the half intro that morphs into Das quivering a hypnotic chant, “This is it/This is the turn/This is where the circles burn,” as it swells to synthesized drums and over-layered guitar noise.

“Hole” is also that perfect emulation of Nine Inch Nails that thankfully doesn’t come across as Reznor-worship because it delves into a similar space of sinister but with comparatively lighter synth sounds. Former Joint Family drummer Shardul Mehta slows to a dance pace on the addictive “Witching Hour” and that’s where the band begin escaping comparisons. “Witching Hour” is moody ”“ from guitar fuzz to dreamy synth. They carry that on to the extra-dreamy “Venus,” which sounds like electro post-rock that has synth lines instead of guitar riffs layered over and over.

All six tracks have an element of gloom and songs like “Face/3” [which clocks in at eight minutes] take loop listening to get your head around just how many movements Sundog Project traverse through in the track. Hex 1/Visions escapes compartmentalization. Like with most new bands, it makes us hope SundogProject sound just as good when they play live.

Key tracks: “Venus,” “Witching Hour,” Parhelion.”

Stream Hex 1/Visions here