Far From Your Sun – The Origin of Suffering

Teaser for The Origin of Suffering album.

As I have mentioned over the years here at MusikHolics, one of the most impressive things in Metal music is the capacity to surprise you. Whenever you have thought that you have heard it all, there’s always that one band that stands up and surprises, which is exactly what happened to me with the band Far From Your Sun and their upcoming album, The Origin of Suffering.

Hailing from France, Far From Your Sun is a music project that aims to combine Rock and Metal music with ambiance and Progressive undertones through the collaboration of multiple photographers, writers, painters and so on that have a longtime passion for this kind of music. And as an interesting fact, they have maintained a very low profile in terms of who they are, which adds an air of mystique that was duly missed in the genre.

You can already tell that the group’s focus is in songwriting and atmosphere when you hear the opening track, A Crown Without Thorns. Somber, beautiful and led by acoustic guitars, this is a track with a really nice pace and atmosphere that revels in its sadness and its pain, with some combinations of the aforementioned acoustic guitars with electric ones. The vocals are sad but yet captivating and the harmonies only add to the dark feel of the song.

The album deals with a lot of Egyptian history and myths in the lyrics, which is fairly obvious when you see the name of the second song, Water for Osiris. More upbeat and uplifting from a musical perspective, with some interesting drum patterns and overall a much more catchy approach to songwriting, thus being a very nice contrast to the opener and shows the band’s musical diversity. It is also one of the longest pieces of the album, clocking at over nine minutes, but it ebbs and flows with a lot of quality and definitely sticks the landing.

The Hand and the Voice relies mainly on a piano and is a return to the sad approach of A Crown Without Thorns, but much like that track, it works quite well here and the vocals really take central stage, becoming one of the finest vocal performances of the entire album. It’s a song that relies so much on feeling and works so well in that regard, especially with those little musical touches such as the restrained yet effective guitar work in the second half of the track.

We could also consider La Fuite de la Lune as one of the epics of the album despite only ranking at over seven minutes, but it has a slow build up, much like the vast majority of the record, and then grows in a majestic track of sorts, although I feel that it never truly hits you the wait it should. There’s a lack of impact as the song grows that doesn’t stick with you in that regard.

We have another nice change of pace with Enough, with its effective and more rhythmic groove and the vocals fit in quite well with the rest of the composition. It is one of the most distinctive tracks of the album as it has some nice rhythm changes and manages to be consistently good in that regard, which is something that a lot of Progressive bands tend to struggle with.

I have often believed that there are bands that you can only listen to when in certain moods and when you do that, their songs can crush you like a ton of bricks. I think Far From Your Sun is that type of band and their song I felt a Funeral, in my Brain has a way of tearing you apart if you listen to it in a calm, peaceful state of mine. In a way reminds me to the ballads that Kamelot used to do with Roy Khan on vocals–tender, beautiful and painfully sad. Definitely one of the stand out moments of the album.

Behind the Wall is definitely the oddball on this album as it has some techno influences and, at least from my perspective, doesn’t truly fit with the whole spirit and ambiance of the record. I’m sure that that song is going to have its fans, but despite having some nice guitar work in the second half, it never really does it for me, if I’m truly honest.

On the other hand, Where Planets Die works very well for me. I don’t know why, but I link it with the title track of Deep Purple’s Stormbringer album, with that imposing feel and nice grooves–it is both epic and catchy as hell. Moments like this song proves how good the guys of Far From Your Sun are at songwriting as they can write solemn, powerfully sad songs and also go for heavier, more epic tracks and do them with the same gusto. One of my favorite pieces of the album as it appeals more to my musical sensibilities.

Tempus Edax, Homo Edacior could almost be viewed as an outro, with some interesting symphonic elements and a nice atmosphere, but not working much as a song. And it’s okay because it closes the album well and is in line with the epic, almost borderline tragic feel of The Origin of Suffering.

Overall, it is a very nice album with a good flow and it stays consistently entertaining throughout the whole thing. Having said that, it does appeal more to people already into Progressive music as it has a lot of classic traits of the style, plus some musical quirks that could be of that crowd’s liking.

Definitely a band worth checking out and you can do so on their website, YouTube channel, Twitter, Facebook and Bandcamp.