Review Summary: A personal reflection on near-death, BBS take the struggles of life and explode through the darkness.
Shine Like A Billion Suns must not have been an easy album to record for Boom Boom Satellites. Frontman Michiyuki Kawashima once again had to battle an issue with a brain tumor last year due to a relapse at the conclusion of their recent tour. He was only given a maximum of two years to live. However, Kawashima found specialist therapy to stop the spread of the tumors at the end of 2014 and is now able to continue. From this context, it is clear that
Shine Like A Billion Suns was born out of struggle, the unexpected but also the search for hope; the album illustrates this with complete conviction and beauty.
One of Boom Boom Satellites’ strong and consistent characteristics is creating engaging and incredibly interesting electronic music, full of dynamic bursts of noise and melody whilst grinding industrial-esque guitar riffs. Tracks like ‘Only Blood’ and ‘Complicated’ are pure examples of the loud and abrasive side of Boom Boom Satellites, full of commanding drum work that bombard over pulsating synths. These tracks are a strong initial statement of the album, especially when they are placed early on the tracklist, but the opening track, ‘Shine’ is a striking contrast. A notable observation of ‘Shine’ is the vocal work by Kawashima, utilising the falsetto approach which is absent in their previous work. His vocals glides through the reverb-laden synths until the track explodes into a house-rhythm frenzy, where a special mention has to be made on the quality of the production which is crystal clear and well equalised; the power of the bass is astonishing.
The majority of
Shine Like a Billion Suns takes huge influence from the industrial genre, where tracks such as ‘Vanishing’ and ‘Complicated’ are layered by droning guitars that are filled with crunching distortion. ‘Back in Black’ is very reminiscent of the band’s work from the album
Exposed with its catchy hook and playful atmosphere. The glitch effect during the verses also boosts the soundscape of the track and its up predictability, a method which can be found in some Nine Inch Nails songs.
Shine Like a Billion Suns also has a completely different dynamic from its industrial roots. The second half of the album has a completely different tone and atmosphere from the first; you could say that from the interlude ‘The Moth (Attracted to the Flame)’ onwards, the album takes the away the billion sun shine from the first half and extinguishes it into complete darkness. ‘Blind Bird’ and ‘Overcome’ ditches the droning guitars in favour for some minimalistic synths, which makes the track seem a lot more personal and intimate. This is reinforced by the delivery of the lyrics by Kawashima, which could be a reference to his personal struggles in the past couple of years. On ‘Blind Bird’, Kawashima softly sings
”My wounded wing’s still beating/See you in heaven far away/I’ll meet you there.” before the song quietly pulses away into the abyss. ‘Overcome’ has a more hopeful approach, where lyrics
”Time goes by so fast/And now be in the moment/Life goes on/Time rolls on/And I’m on” are sung with such emotion over hypnotic whirling synths and phasing guitar riffs.
Critically, the album falls short at the end with tracks ‘Stain’ and ‘Emergence’. These are dominated by an ambient approach which unfortunately acts as an anti-climax holistically. ‘Stain’ surprisingly feels like a Sigur Ros song, with its post-rock influence and mysterious atmosphere and is rather short so it feels like an interlude to the final track. ‘Emergence’ is a slightly disappointing ending to the album, it feels drawn out for the near six minute duration and it consists of Kawashima’s vocals being reversed constantly over some glitchy samples. The last minute and a half is just a crash cymbal being softly hit over some high frequency ambience. In the context of the album, ‘Emergence’ may serve as an emotional purpose of illustrating hope, but sadly the track is not powerful in its statement and falls rather flat as a result.
Shine Like a Billion Suns overall is another strong entry into the ever growing discography of Boom Boom Satellites, which is full of consistency and versatility. The album is a much deeper and personal reflection on Kawashima’s recent life and how he has pulled through his illness. It is certainly more engaging then their previous album
Embrace which aimed to gain a worldwide audience through radio-friendly songwriting.
Shine Like a Billion Suns showcases a band with revitalised creativity and a new perspective, whilst maintaining their quality of songwriting and Kawashima greatly improving his vocal performances. It is not as colossal as
To The Loveless, but it is just as impactful emotionally.
Recommended Tracks: Shine, Only Blood, Complicated, Back In Black, Blind Bird.
