SONS OF ARRAKIS (a fictional desert on a fictional planet) comes from Canada and they are releasing their second full album called Volume II. Guess the name of the first album? The sound of the band is defined by themselves as Melange Rock and Cinematographic Sci-Fi Rock and the tunes are inspired in a futuristic dystopian world from the novel Dune. The artwork of the album is very cool as well as the artwork of the first one. The album starts with “Scattering” and the first thing that comes to my mind is Brann Dailor, the drummer of MASTODON when I hear the vocal. The SON OF ARRAKIS's singer Frederic Couture has a similar voice.

Their sound also reminds me a little of MASTODON as it is heavy and intricate. A little slower, is the good “High Handed Enemy”that has some PINK FLOYD vibes in the instrumental before getting to the heavy guitar riffs part full of guitar fuzz. The guitar riffs are tasty as well as you can hear on “Beyond the Screen of Illusion”. This tune has also a nice arrangement in the end with a final guitar solo showing that we are dealing with well seasoned musicians and arrangers in tis band. The fourth tune is an instrumental with the entire band playing. It lasts a minute and perhaps these are the leftover riffs that were not turned into music. We reach midway with the somber “Retaliation” and I love the riff on this one. Guitar players Francis Duchesne and Frederic Couture have creative guitar parts playing each other well and the riffs are not those standards used in every heavy music. The same can be said about the unique solos. The song arrangements are complex enough to take you by the hand to different moods and feelings.

Each song is unique in its style and the masterful riffs keep coming like in “Metamorfosis". Being only the second album of the band, the band show maturity already and the songs are all interconnected and deemed a worthy continuation of the first album. Another great guitar solo on this one. Another band that comes to mind is QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE as the arrangements are not conventional as you can hear in the good “Blood For Blood” that has a somewhat ethereal feeling and I still have Brann Dailor in my mind every time I hear the vocals. This is not bad at all and the singer is great. Is just that I think that I am hearing a song from the other band. We reach another interlude that lasts 50 seconds and opposite to the first one,it did not impress me much.

We reach “Burn Into Baze” and that is exactly what the band does to you on this tune with another great fuzzed riff and dueling guitars. The duo of bass and drums are also impressive with Vick Trigge and Mathieu Racine respectively. No band can be good without a solid base and SONS OF ARRAKIS definitely have one. We end this good journey with an acoustic tune called “Caladan” that is another instrumental that did not add much to the recipe. Overall very good work and impressive riffs. Perhaps we are only missing that song that stays in your mind longer after you listen.