We have a mysterious band to review today. The name of the band is BIG SUN and they are a king of mysterious bunch since the band members do not credit their names to the band or any songs in their album Rite De Passage. Despite a number of bands with the same name, I found out that this BIG SUN on this album is from Denmark and it has 3 members according to the horrible Ghostbusters like cover album. This is pretty much what I could gather so far. Let’s see what they have to offer. The album starts with “The Sun” that surprises me with their approach. The singer enters the song with a very high pitch voice ala KING DIAMOND in a bed of keyboard and voice arrangements. I have to confess that I am liking what I am hearing so far. A variety of moods and musical arrangements makes their approach quite interesting.

We also have an 80's feeling on the next tune “I Was Loving You” that reminds me of KISS in their worst era. The song is in the style of the KISS’s Thrills In The Night and  this one did not catch my heavy metal ears despite being very digestible.  Maybe this is exactly the reason. We follow with “Stronger Than Anyone” that sounds more like disco than rock giving mr some mixed feelings. There was a time in the late 70.s that disco was taking over and some rock bands at the time tried poorly to surf that wave. This tune reminds me of that era with a catchy chorus and groovy arrangements. The more I hear the more I realize that this is pretty much their music proposition. You can find some nicer arrangements like in “Directions” that had a nice keyboard melody that guides the song. This one sounds the best for me so far and shows that the trio is composed of good musicians with the ability to put together catchy tunes that you can sing along after listening for the first time. The keys are present in every tune and “Maiden Sacrifice” is no different. I am starting to like this album more and more as it progresses. Nice singing melodies in every song and the singer shows that he has an amazing range on his voice. The band also leans to the magic and ethereal on this one giving a medieval feeling.

Then, it goes kind of disco rock again with “Lovers Die At Midnight”. Do you remember bands in the eighties like AIR SUPPLY or JOURNEY? It sounds more or less like that. It surprises me in some tunes, but in others it sounds too commercial to my ears. We reach “You Know You Want It” and you also note that the band goes for the memorable chorus formula in every song. Simple arrangements with all the tricks the big rock bands of the era had on their sleeve as you can hear the chorus enough times that you can sing along afterwards. “Ra Horaktus” is a strange one. It starts like I Was Made For Loving You from KISS but it also has elements of GHOST and a KING DIAMOND delivery. The arrangements on this one are quite nice with a lovely mid section that matches somehow with the Ra Horactus chant. We end this strange journey with “The Totem” , which for me is the romantic tune of the album. No guitars and with a sound that reminds me more of a SPANDAU BALLET song than anything else.

Overall is a good album but seems the band gets a little lost on their goal whatever this may be. There is almost every influence from the soft rock bands that tried to compete with disco at the time but despite adding a few heavy touches, it still sounds too general and sometimes too commercial for me despite a couple of good and heavier tunes. If you really like heavy rock. this may not be for you.