Following on from three EPs, Norwegian post-rock outfit Grant The Sun have finally delivered their debut full-length LP, Voyage, releasing on Mas-Kina Records. Representing the band at their most fully-realised, Voyage brings together both ideas and lessons learned from their previous releases, and new stylistic choices that they have never attempted before such as the incorporating vocals. The final product ends up not only being Grant The Sun’s most ambitious and engaging release to date, but a deeply accessible post-rock album for those new to the genre.
Across the 39 minutes of Voyage, Grant The Sun weave their way around ideas from progressive rock, metal, and post-rock with ease. This leads to a collection of tracks that present as a journey into a watery abyss, cleverly using genre meshing and stylistic changes as narrative devices, culminating in a cohesive album that maintains momentum and excitement. From the dreamy soundscapes of ‘Blue Desert’, a track that plunges into heavy, chugging riffs and complex, weaving rhythmic patterns, to the rapturous close of the confidently titled closer ‘Grant The Sun’, Voyage remains incredibly engaging.
Vocals are used sparingly across this body of work, with tracks intermittently being punctuated by the distant echoes of Markus Lillehaug Johnsen and the raw screams of Martin Rygge. This leads to the tracks often feeling like they use vocals more so as another instrument in an instrumental ensemble, such as on ‘Machina’. A gritty, distorted guitar line chugs away under reverb soaked chords and hazy vocalisations, before stripping back for choruses marked by Rygge’s sharp unclean vocals.
“An LP that truly embraces the idea of being a cohesive body of work, Voyage feels like a musical odyssey”
Whilst Voyage does focus primarily on the instrumentation, and that instrumentation is often complex, Grant The Sun are not a band that get lost in their own technical proficiency. As opposed to producing track after track of flashy guitar stunts and complicated percussive fills, the group elect to utilise their talents to conjure up vivid imagery and create a conceptual yet accessible body of work. It is impressive to listen to the narrative of a journey be produced out of predominantly instrumental tracks.
‘Mariana’ is a sweeping six minute epic, featuring guitars that are drenched in reverb and sound startlingly akin to mandolins, before the track builds to a rapturous instrumental close. On ‘Vertigo’, the track shifts in nature from gorgeous and complex interweaving melodies, to harder, distorted riffs that verge on something you might get from a djent outfit. Grant The Sun evidently understand their medium incredibly well, sculpting a sound that feels exciting to explore and unique to them.
The real highlights of the album, however, is when the band lean into their more groove led side. Tracks such as ‘Death Is Real’ and ‘Hits Like A Wave’ both feature moments of pure bouncing rhythmic bliss, whilst the slick yet sludgy riffing on ‘Seadevil’ hooks you in and commands your enjoyment. The album closes on the thunderous ‘Grant The Sun’, a relentless prog-metal beast of a track that culminates in an almost overwhelming roar of noise consuming the listener, before spitting you back out.
Grant The Sun are evidently a band eager to expand their musical horizons. From bringing in bass lines on their EPs, to the methodical and artistic introduction of vocals into their music on this album, Grant The Sun clearly make no assumption that they have perfected their craft, and that desire to improve and experiment pays off fantastically on this album. An LP that truly embraces the idea of being a cohesive body of work, Voyage feels like a musical odyssey, and marks a perfect entry point for those perhaps interested in post-rock, but were uncertain where to begin. Take a plunge into the abyss, and see for yourself what Norway’s latest bright talent has to offer.