ALBUM REVIEW: El Moono – The Waking Sun

’…’The Waking Sun’ utterly demolishes any expectations set and makes it clear that, no matter how hotly you may have anticipated this release, ‘The Waking Sun’ is even more incredible…’

Author’s Note: This review is part of Catch-Up Week 2024, in which we check out a couple of projects that slipped under the radar during this past year, before we close out 2024 with the end of year listings! – Ry

Continuing up our Catch-Up Week is Brighton-based four-piece El Moono. The band exploded onto the scene with their critically acclaimed EP ‘Temple Corrupted‘, which immediately marked them out as a band to watch closely. That hype was challenged in May of this year when the band finally released their debut full-length, ‘The Waking Sun‘. Once again, the band achieved critical acclaim for their music, and have spent much of the year touring every inch of the UK on offer to them. Visiting this album after all of these months have passed offers one very clear question: does ‘The Waking Sun‘ meet all of the expectations set by this band’s meteoric rise?

In a word: no. In multiple words: ‘The Waking Sun‘ utterly demolishes any expectations set and makes it clear that, no matter how hotly you may have anticipated this release, ‘The Waking Sun‘ is even more incredible. Certainly, whilst allusions to the likes of Deftones, Coheed & Cambria, and Thrice could be made, El Moono stand apart from the rest of the heavy scene with a sound that defies any easy categorisation or comparison. Moments of wildly progressive and crushing complexity collide with infectious, danceable rhythms, whilst vocalist Zac Jackson remains an unpredictable and commanding presence throughout.

Bookended by two instrumental cuts, ‘Dawn’ and ‘Dusk’, and featuring a single instrumental cut in the middle, ‘Orbit’, the album flows effortlessly from a grandiose, rousing opening to a sweeping, monolithic close. Tracks such as blistering title track ‘The Waking Sun’ and ‘The First Man on Mars’ showcase the band’s ferocious progressive edge, with the compelling drama of Jackson’s vocals intermingling with thunderous instrumentation that demonstrates both complexity and flair. The same can be said for the surprisingly emotive closer, ‘Soul Eclipse’, which takes the cinematic, galactic themes that permeate the record and utilises them perfectly to weave a gorgeous, cathartic to an album that grapples so heavily with self-destruction and that dark side of the self.

It is perhaps ‘Haunting‘ and ‘Screw Loose‘, however, where the band eschew expectations of post-metal and prog-rock most obviously. The former features a bombastic, marching rhythm, marked by a growling bass line layered atop of a monstrous percussive beat, which lunges forth into immense choruses that swirl with a discordant mystique. Jackson’s vocals evolve from melodies that are barely held together, vibrating at the edges with an anxious energy, into utterly animalistic screams that pierce through the apocalyptic heaviness. ‘Screw Loose‘, however, sees the band bring huge danceable rhythms that almost teeter on something you could expect from Northlane, whilst the choruses are wildly catchy whilst losing none of the ferocious grit of El Moono’s sound.

El Moono certainly have amassed a great deal of hype, yet even so, it still feels as though the importance of their creativity and raw potential has yet to be properly acknowledged. ‘The Waking Sun’ is a fantastic record, but acts even more so as a manifesto for a band with a solar system to conquer. Don’t go publishing that end of year listing without checking this album out.

RATING: 86/100 – Mostly Excellent

For Fans Of: Deftones, Coheed & Cambria, Thrice, Thornhill, unpeople

Physical copies of the album are available to purchase here.

Follow the band on social media below:

Instagram // Spotify