Sons of Alpha Centauri back with sophomore effort 11 years after debut

Ten years ago, in July of 2008, the members of Sons of Alpha Centauri convened in the UK with Yawning Man's Gary Arce to start work on the group's follow up to their 2007 self-titled debut.  Things went a little sideways with that project, as after just a day Arce and the band could tell something pretty special was taking place with the chemistry.    That volatile mixture of personnel, in just one short week, yielded the bones an album with a unique sound and vision, titled Ceremony to the Sunset, that was eventually released under the moniker of Yawning Sons.

Over the course of the ensuing year other personnel pitched in and added their talents to the project, including a vocal from Scott Reeder (Kyuss),  Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson), and Wendy Rae Fowler (QOTSA).

Fast forward nine years since the release of Ceremony to the Sunset and SOAC are set to FINALLY drop a sophomore album, which, according to the band, it purports to be, "an epic introspective journey of abrasive and ambient progressive electronic alt rock."  Well, I'll be the judge of that.

The band maintains the same line-up as all of its previous releases, including its debut and its varied 7" splits, Nick Hannon on bass, Marlon Aaron King on guitars, Blake on electronics and textures, and Stevie B. on drums.

The album was not presented to me as a concept album, but with its eight song titles as cohesive as they are, it could very easily be passed off as one if it was not for the album's cover, which seemingly does not align well with the song titles.  The album is titled Continuum, well enough, it suits the song titles, OR it suits the cover, it's just that the cover and song titles do not mesh.  For example, there are song titles such as "Jupiter," "Solar Storm," "Io," "Interstellar," "Orbiting Jupiter," etc.  Meanwhile, the cover of the album appears to be a decommissioned WWII era (or thereabouts) submarine.

What?  Excellent publicity photos. Album cover?  I question the choice.  But alas, we move on to the music contained their in.

The brief introductory track is all synth and mellow guitar,but it's track two, "Jupiter," that defines the palette that Sons of Alpha Centauri will be painting Continuum with.  It goes heavy riff, slow jazz, heavy riff, slow jazz, repeat ad nauseam.  Actually that's not quite fair, there's some variation in there that nicely breaks up the routine, and it all comes together pleasant enough.  The band knows its craft.  "Jupiter" just failed to grab me.

Now "Solar Storm" was more my speed.  Something about King's guitar work at the outset, caught my attention.  He's not a flashy, showy guitarist, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know his way around the fretboard either.  The man can riff.

Nick Hannon's bass is the first thing we hear on "Io," the bands first single, see the video for this song below.  It's another mellow tune, and it's Hannon who leads the way, with Stevie B. helping out considerably.  A nice variation of sound, a good choice for video.  Hannon's jangly bass reminds me some of the work of Adam Clayton on this song.

The very brief "Surfacing For Air," has Hannon playing some deep tones on bass, great textures from Blake and brilliant guitar work from King.  Albeit over entirely too soon, this is my favorite track.

The 6:41 "Interstellar" commences with Blake's electronics and a beat from Stevie B. before Hannon and King join in nearly a minute into the tune.  Hannon, King and Blake skillfully weave around Stevie B.'s steady beat until it drops away and turns into some rapid stick work.  With two minutes left in the tune the band shifts into high gear and do some of the heaviest jamming they've done on the entire album.  They finally cut loose.  It's what I've been waiting for the entire cd, and it doesn't last nearly long enough.  Before the song is over, the band has mostly dropped out except Hannon's bass and the textures of Blake. Still, "Interstellar" is worth the price of admission.

"Orbiting Jupiter" is a beautiful piano piece with electronic accompaniment.  It segues into "Return Voyage," which opens with a jangly guitar, bass, and somber electronics.  But the slow intro is broken up every few seconds by drums and a wall of sound as the sound stops and starts, trying to get under way, then it finally commences.   At a minutee 55 in, the guitar riffing breaks in, timid at first, then more assertive, and I'm digging this.  I'm glad I stuck around for the main event.  This tune rocks.

All in all Continuum is, for the greatest part, exactly what it claims to be, "an introspective journey of abrasive and ambient progressive electronic alt rock."  The only change I made to the quote is I dropped the word "epic."  I disagree on that point alone.  It IS "most excellent," BORDERING UPON "pretty freakin' awesome," but I would NOT QUITE qualify it as "epic."

It's not a perfect album, but it's certainly worth checking out, and a solid effort from a damn talented band, I rate this outing an 88 out of 100.

Sons of Alpha Centauri on Bandcamp
Sons of Alpha Centauri website