Let the devil in, perform blood sacrifices, bite at the air as you accept possession from Switzerland/Finland-based droning avant-psychedelic rock/post-metal trio SUM OF R who return with an even more intricately carved series of horror-mantra on this fifth full-length album. Described as an avant-garde séance ‘Spectral‘ delivers the retro-futuristic bad acid trip it promises but ultimately resonates as a carefully coordinated set of performances where embattled neopsych textures and an impossibly dark vision for the ominous makes for unheard-of worlds and visions depicted. Full-bodied and empty lunged, there is an occult-magickal corruption available to these events which agitates but also captivates enough to linger in mind as it’s hex stews.

Sum Of R formed as an experimental/dark ambient project from electronic artist Reto Mäder (Ural Umbo, RM74) circa 2007 aiming for hypnotic and minimal interpretations of psychedelia. The first several records from the project were shadowy silver and black nightmares, largely instrumental fusion of ritualized psych rock, krautrock and drone from a bleak font. Their second LP (‘Lights on Water‘, 2014) notably featured prominent droning guitar work and caught my ear most readily but I believe the general notice of the band arrived somewhere nearby their third LP (‘Orga‘, 2017) which’d inspired a Roadburn spot (which never happened) that’d brough in Atomikylä/Dark Buddha Rising drummer Jukka Rämänen alongside vocals from Marko Neuman (Convocation, Waste of Space Orchestra, et al.) to complete a new line-up and incur two additional degrees of separation, inordinate expansion from where the project began.

The first result of their triumvirate was naturally a performative angle, something like atmospheric doom/drone centered neopsychedelia made for an intimate crowd-surrounded experience. ‘Lahbryce‘ (2022) could be fairly seen as atmospheric sludge voicing applied to shamanic/meditative doom metal rhythms but there was more than metal sub-genre voicing its pow-wow. In brief review I’d described the listening experience as: “A bloodied event to start, ever creeping in its tension’d movement but joyful (inebriated, even) when their fog does lift for the sake of electro-psych splashed color, ordered and droning but surreal nonetheless. More a centering experience than it is a discombobulation of spirits, I’d found myself happily directed by the extremes on offer here[…]” while noting the album as overlong with some redundancies gumming up the walk to the finale. The standard was set incredibly high there and then, though I’d no expectations for this release beyond a similarly darkly lit, cross-eyed and huffing temperament.

‘Spectral‘ is not a direct follow-up or continuation of Sum of R‘s prior awakening as a trio but instead here they’re crawling within their own hardening skin, keratinizing beneath increasingly agitated expressionistic fuming as the search for new corruptive sounds overtakes. Vocal abstraction is a huge part of this on Neuman‘s part as he carries on making a horrendous, ear-yanking struggle (“Null”) out of every breathing moment whilst vintage synthesizers and crumbling fuzz-bent guitars (see: “Solace”) accentuate the core freakout occurring. That is to say that the eerie of the fellow’s tonal choices made song-over-song both contrasts wildly with and teems within the heavy psychedelic rock built/post-metal capable production values applied, it goes together in shockingly correct alignment.

Those first few songs are captivating as slow burnt offerings, landscapes that drift with spaced and swaying muse but for my own taste ‘Spectral‘ doesn’t begin to truly cripple the senses and claw open the portal to the underdark ’til “Waltz of Death” is unveiled as I’d say the most bleak and provocative piece under their name to date. The typhonic growl at the heart of the death ritual occurring is steel wool applied to the listeners neurons and the bounding, funeral space rock plod of the drums truly becomes a march as the passage carries on. They could basically just expand that sound to an LPs length and I’d be happy but what surrounds it is no less compelling per its bizarre scenery. “Beer Cans in a Bottomless Pit” comes right after applying wraith-like gasped and weirding chants to trip-hopped krautrock vetted beats as we continue to turn a new or different corner for the duration of the listen… Variety carries the full listen well, every song here is more-or-less worth mentioning for their own waves and nodules of interest.

If you’ve no interest in psychedelic rock spaced experiences, the weirding lull of shamanic doom or harsher levels of freakout in general ‘Spectral‘ may be too over the top for your shit but I’d found this record about as approachable as the band’s previous LP. There is enough containment, a sense of intimacy retained, which renders Sum of R‘s latest worthy of curiosity in its own right as I’d primarily return to investigate further per the tone of possessed alienation which runs throughout. A moderately high recommendation.

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