Band:	Sun Devoured Earth
Album:	I Wish I Would Never Wake Up
Style:	Post-Rock, Shoegaze, Atmospheric black metal
Release date:	January 2011

01. The Great Self-Loathing Song
02. Life Is Poison
03. Makes No Difference
04. Where's The Reset Button
05. Make Me Disappear
06. Get Rid Of This Mess

One man bands are quite literally, a dime a dozen. They release anything from solo indie guitar tracks, to lo-fi hissy black metal. More often than not it's recorded in their mom's basement using a microphone from the 1980's, with only a few notes distinguishable in the huge, crashing wall of sound. But if one has the initiative to look through the mess of up-and-coming musicians, and wade through countless websites and Bandcamp pages, they can find something?

Sun Devoured Earth is that something.

Sun Devoured Earth is a one man Black metal band from Latvia. The front man Vadim Vasilyev has been quite busy over the past 3 years, releasing over 15 albums, splits, and EPs. However, it must have been fate that brought me to his 2011 EP, titled I Wish I Would Never Wake Up. First off, that should be your first clue into what this is going to be, dark, depressive, and straight to the point. Pressing play, you are immediately transferred into his world of shame, hate, and despair. Funeral vocals and uplifting ambient guitar tracks flow slowly to start the mood. The mix between upbringing highs and woeful lows paints a picture of a young person struggling just to survive in the hell we call this world. That melodic fuzz is soon demolished by a blitzkrieg of drums and buzzsaw guitar. The vicious noise cuts through like a razor through his wrists. The truly despaired vocals add an even deeper low. The combined package is a knock out blow; the atmospheric reign of sadness has begun, let's hope you took your anti-depressant today.

The album continues in this fashion, a warm and fuzzy intro erupts into tremolo picked madness. Even though these songs are filled with true emotion and struggle, this formula tends to get boring, almost to the point where one can pick out when the assault will break through the shoegaze. Another nitpick could be the production. From the first drum beat you can tell this is going to be lo-fi. The drums are a machine, there's audio bumps, and sometimes it cuts out a little too early. That being said, however, this is still a very enjoyable release, it's short, to the point blackgaze.

What more could you want?