Psychedelic Rock Leviathon
Suns of the Tundra are probably best known as Peach, a band who impressed Tool to the extent that they borrowed some of their tracks for live sets. The album is cut into 2 sections, with two tracks at the start and end free from segregation. 'Caught Telling The Truth' is the opening blazing prog rock number combining crunching guitars and effects-laden far-out vocals, which sound a little as if they've been on a serious hydrogen trip, especially with playful couplets like, "She's my sister and I kissed her".
We then descend into the first 30 minute long section, entitled 'Insignificance', which opens with 'Capsized', murky guitars kick off this pensive tune, while the vocals echo away just out of touch beneath the music's tangible surface. Many bands would create an effect like this and then smash it to pieces within seconds with cataclysmic riffs, but the beauty of the prog rock album sections is that when you're onto a good thing, it's allowed to continue for 2 minutes on its own as part of the whole album story. 'Capricorn Gone' is a psychedelic ode to Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd with its anxious plucked guitars and longing vocals, which are suddenly overturned by frantic robotic riffs in the most bi-polar, terrifying way.
There's shimmering, uncomfortable beauty in 'Sandiette Light Automatic's nursery rhyme words combined with a discordant tune, while 'Monkey Dance' has those brash riffs that must have got Tool going. 'Lucky Dazed' is laden with epic emotion and more spoken word than music, provides an interlude that gets your attention before the stunning, 'Now The Flood Has Come', which harnesses the theatricality of Iron Maiden at their finest in its unrelenting riffs and haunting guitars echoing the vocals' sentiments.
'Battersea Rising' instantly draws the image of Pink Floyd's beloved Battersea power station, although it's a far more frenetic and thunderous tune than the Floyd would have dared to play, but it harnesses the same creativity, albeit a steely, rocking one. Title track, 'Tunguska' shimmers with hypnotic energy before the soft, earthy 'Soil' closes 'Insignificance'.
'Biast Part i and ii' take you on an instrumental journey from a gruff, leering riff to delicate twinkling notes against a percussion background and across drawn out melodies, which soothe and entertain; spaced out, this is hallucinogenic stoner rock at its finest. 'Biast' is noticeably different in its reliance on instrumental skill rather than harnessing all the strains of the melody beneath the vocals and allowing them to pack the punch.
Finally 'Coelecanth Heart', plays us out with four minutes of ringing phones, vocal samples and random sound blended in with tender guitar notes. It's a fitting end to a fantastically interesting album. Fans of pure rock will love some of the earlier songs under the 'Insignificance' banner, while the psychedelic edge makes this a great listen for any music fan and there are some superb moments of exploration into softer territories.