From Warsaw, Poland, comes the band SUNNATA. Formed in 2013, they are described as "Ritual heavy music and eternal tripping. Let there be noise. Sanskrit for "void," SUNNATA "explores impermanent nature of sound, full of rapid changes and distortion overdose. Open your mind and experience it. Let there be noise." "Outlands" is the band's third full-length album, and contains eight tracks.

A short and eerie "Intro" leads to "Lucid Dream." Subdued at first, with steady percussion and a bass guitar riff, guitar and spoken vocals soon join in. The sound is largely amorphous; blending soft incantations with the macabre. When it starts to build, you can feel something lurking in the shadows; poised and ready to attack. A heavy and fuzzy riff of Doom hits hard, turning the benevolent dream into a potential nightmare. Soon the sound drops and that hypnotic bass returns, paired with clean guitar notes that have a distinctive Eastern sound to them. "Scars" reminds of tribal chants and a psychedelic trip to another dimension where the borders of space and time seem not to exist. The vocals are mesmerizing. If you look at the scar long enough, can it bring back the pain you felt during the injury? Or, is it just there to remind you that it is part of you?

Trippy bass lines open the title track, "Outlands." I am now ultimately undecided on what exactly I am listening to here, except to say that it has cast its spell on me and I am its subject. I've never been overly good at interpreting lyrics either, and these are definitely mysterious, which for me just adds to the thrill of secrecy in the music. "The Ascender" opens with vocal chants and low, fuzzy guitar and bass that pound with the intensity of Doom Metal. Could this be what THE DOORS might sound like if their music had evolved to modern day? There are some religious themes in the lyrics but its true nature remains secluded. A "Gordian Knot" is "an extremely difficult or involved problem." The track of this namesake is heavy and punishing from the start, but still trippy and at times more refined. Sometimes I get an ALICE IN CHAINS vibe here. The short "Interlude" has a hollow and echoing sound from a guitar running through some steep effects, leading to the twelve minute closing leviathan, "Hollow Kingdom."

It hits on the overall theme of the band's name, which again means "void." When you are hollow inside, there is literally nothing there. No hopes, no dreams, no feelings, no soul. I can't imagine a sound that carries this better than "Hollow Kingdom." "Anywhere I roam...from shimmering light...through desolate land...where troubled are blind...and shattered in mud." Like a slow and painful death, the song seems to go on forever, until it has tortured you to the point of feeling completely "hollow."

I can now completely understand why some in the media have called it "ritual heavy music." At its core I could label it as Progressive Doom, but this is too narrow for the album really. If you really want to know the crux of the genre here, it is called SUNNATA. It's only fitting that an album this unique not be subject to labeling. Magnetic, captivating, and sometimes peculiar, there really is a lot to like if you are looking for something off the beaten path.