Junius – Days of the Fallen Sun EP (Prosthetic)
Friday, 10th January 2014
The soothe and caress of Junius’s sophomore 2011 effort Reports from the Threshold of Death made the band instantly likeable. Likeable, as in, delicate wanderings, atmospheric spaciousness, and the occasional distorted pinch came to work in stripped-down songs, a lot of which had the guitars buried in favor of vocals and keyboard sounds. Since then, the band has enjoyed all sorts of good associations, like with Alcest, Katatonia, and even some non-metal entrants, Silver Snakes and O’Brother. With a new full-length a formality for later this year, here comes a eight-song EP in the form of Days of the Fallen Sun.
Really, there’s four actual songs here, the other four are interludes, which is always a great way to fatten up in the track listing. For a band who is so bent on space and atmosphere, it makes perfect sense, as Junius essentially ride-or-die with the vocal exhalations of Joseph Martinez. Martinez, an emotive-without-being-too-emotive singer, is the topper for virtually all of the band’s constructs, and here, his choices are the focus on “The Time of Perfect Virtue,” and “A Day with Dark Night.” And if one is trying to track down some actual riffs and guitar ideas with pop, better luck next time – the guitars in Junius are just a dollop; they don’t do much other than provide the basis, which could translate into far less-heavy avenues down the road.
For now, the EP is a nice little go-between, although one could desire more out of a few of these cuts. Maybe that’s why a full-length could be better served for the band – Reports was such a immense and engaging listen, all because of how neatly the songs herded together, each by the doing of some rather memorable vocal excursions from Martinez. One would think this will be in surplus come album #3.
