Short Reviews [New Sun - 2019 - "Damage Done Redux"]

After the excitement of the 90’s, many prog bands dropped out of the scene when we got past the millennium, and after three albums in six years the same happened with New Sun who went on extended hiatus. They returned in 2012 with their next album, ‘Damage Done’, and while Chris Trujillo (drums), Christopher Scott Cooper (guitars and keyboards) and Alex Kley (bass) were back, there was no sign of founder guitarist D. L. Erickson who had departed before their third album, ‘Expectations’. Rather curiously, the band had decided to bring in a new lead singer in Christopher Elio, which seems rather strange given that role had always belonged to founder Christopher Scott Cooper. The band must also feel now that this was a step in the wrong direction as in 2019, they remixed the album and reissued it with the original vocal tracks – the original version of ‘Damage Done’ is no longer available, and here we have ‘Damage Done Redux’. Whereas ‘Expectations’ had seen the band bring in quite a few guests, here we see the band getting back to their roots and producing something which in many ways is more similar to ‘Fractured’ than anything else. The keyboards are not nearly as prominent, and here we have New Sun firmly in heavy prog yet mixing in melodic rock as well, so this is a very easy album to get inside. One of the main differentiators of New Sun for me are Christopher’s vocals and I cannot imagine what the band would sound like with a different singer, so it is no surprise they reverted to the original vocal tracks. The guitar is more direct and less nuanced, while Alex and Chris continue to provide that wonderful foundation which they have been doing since the beginning. This album does not have the polish or expanse of ‘Affects’ yet is still a solid listen and thoroughly enjoyable. So, what was next?