The Sunpilots are a very interesting and original alternative rock band from Sydney, Australia. They have a unique sound that is very hard to peg down into one category; heavily guitar oriented, both progressive rock and shoegazer simultaneously, yet very consistent. Their latest album King of the Sugarcoated Tongues is a concept album: a story told in eight chapters, each chapter in the form of song. Before I get into the many great things that are going on musically on this album, I should tell you that it is entirely free to download. Yes, you read that correctly, you can download this album for FREE!!
The prologue, "3 Minutes to Midnight”, with it’s extremely memorable and cleverly written chorus somehow manages to transport me back to those School House Rock musical shorts of my early childhood in the 1970’s. It possesses a playful lyrical structure, a trend which continues throughout the album. “Chapter I: King of the Sugarcoated Tongues” picks up the pace with its driving tempo. I really enjoyed the cool collection of the riffs that make up this song. “Chapter II: The Captain” has a moody chord progression reminiscent of Radiohead. A wonderfully dynamic relationship between the vocals and the instrumentation (present on all the tracks) make this a fun listen.
The drama continues to build in “Chapter III: God Science” with its poetic verses. The following chapter “Sex and TV” slows things down slightly with its folky, at times almost country-like, tempo. Fabulous guitar solo! I hear a hint of David Gilmour; great “airy” moments in this song. The fifth chapter “Rain” has touches of R.E.M. present and the verses in “Chapter VI: The Piper’s Mirror” have a faint echo of Chris Cornell’s Euphoria Morning album. But I love the climb into the chorus. Vocalist Raj Siva-Rajah has a great falsetto and it’s very effective on this track. The album closes nicely on the punchy and energetic final chapter “Exodus”, the heaviest track on the album.
I am completely floored that such a fantastic album like this is absolutely free to download. Not only are the songs and concept brilliant, but the production quality and artwork are equally amazing. A lot of thought and effort has gone into King of the Sugarcoated Tongues and I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that everyone download the album and give it a listen. You literally have nothing to lose!
Link to download here!
Richard Leggatt, HMS
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