Out of the gate, to find yourself in the more progressive reaches of metal is to find yourself in strange waters. However, it’s when we’re thrown into the exceptionally deep end that we are granted visions unseen in any other corner of the underground with nowhere else in the whole spectrum of metal able to come even close to what can be found in those depths. While some might expect works of death and black metal to take the cake for the strangest visages, the largely unexplored depths of progressive folk is oftentimes one’s best bet to finding material that is simply and overwhelmingly unique. Already is such a phenomenon rare to begin with, but there are a handful of consistent names out there perpetuating that madness. With its newest creation on the horizon, Sur Austru reminds us why they’re at the very forefront of such an odd offensive.

Material like this is something that we’re lucky to see even a handful of times in any given year. Where the bounds of reality itself fold over and things become mysterious and downright insanity-inducing do rare acts make their home alongside spirits and sprites that fled our realm long ago with it not being often by any means that a band comes around to show us what can still be conjured when you commune with such otherworldly beings. Tapping into the lore of their homeland, Sur Austru has been a name to respect in that weird corner for years now with all that’s brought forth with “Datura Străhiarelor” nothing to take lightly lest the spells and magic held within churn your mind into a soup of undeniable madness. From top to bottom, this is an extremely dense creation that requires you to become utterly and hopelessly lost within its deep forests in order to bare witness to all that a work such as this has to offer. Constantly travelling down paths seldom taken if walked upon at all, “Datura Străhiarelor” is the sort of creation that defies expectations, genre boundaries, and defies the very truths of this reality as we know them. Nothing was off the table as Sur Austru sought to bring such a beast of a creation to life with the end result being something that cannot be likened to anything else that I’ve come across in my years throughout the underground. Sur Austru has long been a strong force in of itself, and that fact refuses to change.

A bold effort that could have fallen apart instantly in hands that were even fractionally lesser than Sur Austru’s, “Datura Străhiarelor” is what happens when creativity is unbound and allowed to really take form to become something damn near unrecognizable. Sur Astru has long been a name that defies convention and shows us what it means to push the boundaries of even progressive metal, and it’s here that they’ve certifiably reached a new peak that few could ever hope to come even close to.

“Datura Străhiarelor” releases on August 30th via Avantgarde Music!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Datura Străhiarelor” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Sur Austru on Facebook here.