Sons Of A Wanted Man is a collective from Belgium that has been active since 2014 and released one self titled demo back in 2015. Two years later they are back with their very first EP called Black Days Black Dust. It was released in 2016 by Recovery Records and in 2017 by Pulverised Records. The whole reason for their existence is to break every rule regarding genre, sound and band definitions. They don’t play any particular genre and can’t even be labeled as a post-genre band although this is the description that probably comes nearest to the musical experience they give us.

The fact that it is difficult to label them is because they blur the lines between genres but you can definitely hear some black metal and hardcore influences. At some point they sound like Cult of Luna spin-off and at other times they almost sound like a hipster post-rock experiment that escaped from the lab of a crazy professor. But this is a good record for people who are into the aforementioned genres or bands, also for those who like a more soundscape and ambient style of rock and metal, sludge, shoegaze and blackgaze. Think of their fellow countrymen of bands like AmenRa, Oathbreaker, Eleanora, Heretoir, Steak Number Eight and so forth.

The first thing that catches the ear is that they sound very professional and disciplined for being such a relatively young band. They obviously took their time to construct each song layer by layer. Just when you are comforted by the dreamy and fuzzy atmospheres you get punched in the face by fierce vocals that seem to stem from a source of deep and intense pain. But suddenly the vocals change in a mysterious clean yet distorted tone that comforts you and makes you uneasy at the same time. The music in general is not very fast with the exception of some occasional bursts of intensity but this doesn’t make it lose its momentum. The sound is very balanced and contrary to bands that try to be an auditive blitzkrieg, this doesn’t get boring in any way whatsoever. The drummer is not trying to produce as much blastbeats as possible but is more interested in providing the rest of the music the backup it needs and deserves.

Apart from the intro the music doesn’t comprise any samples or keyboard features. But sometimes you get the impression that string instruments were implemented in a distorted way but nothing is less true. This only demonstrates the very high quality and professionalism of this relatively young band, a band that symbolises the transgressions between the genres, which seems to be typical of our time.

 Release date: may 2017
Label: Pulverised records
Tracklist:
1. Dodenleer
2.Meander
3.Thou art spiritless
4.Black days black dust