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Released on February 1, 2016 via La Choza De Doe
Over the years, the Spanish have become a force to rival with in the post-rock world. Bands like Toundra, Astralia, Boira, Frieda’s Still in Love, Exxassens, Terronaut, Syberia and Hand of Fatima have helped catapult Spain’s reputation in this genre.
Sonnöv are a 5-piece Madrid based band who have been flying under the radar for a few years. Cerogrados (2007) and Hay Una Luz (2012) were their previous releases and were in general well received, but not enough to get their name out there (at least internationally).
Caballo Perdedor (Losing Horse) offers us a very and refreshing experience with heavy post-rock, at some points almost moving into the doom territory. The “Losing Horse” is a dark, passionate, delicate and intense record filled with hypnotic, mysterious, reflective and melancholic moments.
The album is composed by four movements, two shorter (about 5 minutes each) and two longer (approximately 10 minutes each) and surely the track order was well thought/planned out.
The first movement (‘Sun Up’) starts with a Spanish sample, slowly building in the melodies, ending with an intense finale. The contrasting between delicate and beautiful moments and the exploding heaviness is extremely well done. The second, ‘Bucefalo’, and the third, ‘Blue Note’, are the heavier, more dynamic and more metal oriented movements. Crushing heavy guitars, doom-like riffs and intensity play a key role here. Last but not least, ‘Siete Leguas’ strikes immediately for its great variations and transitions, culminating in an explosive and epic manner.
In sum, this album might not be extremely innovative nor groundbreaking, but this is a great album to kick off 2016 and will certainly put Sonnöv’s name on the map. The way they contrast between beautiful and quiet moments with explosions and heaviness is so effortlessly done. I hope they can continue growing as musicians and I’m sure they will want to experiment and perfect their sound even more in the future and we are eager to see (and hear) what comes next.
