Immersing oneself in personal darkness is not necessarily a bad thing. One thing I’ve picked up from therapy is that feeling your emotions rather than escaping from them can make a gigantic difference in navigating life, and when you center yourself in something that’s shadowy and imposing. It’s a great way to build what you need to find the light again.

Sataray’s latest full-length “Edax Solis” sounds like a sound ritual that emanates from this very idea of accepting darkness. The title is Latin for “eater of the sun,” and while that might sound ominous and foreboding on its surface, the six tracks contained on this collection are immersive and imaginative, showing a sort of pathway for being able to handle the pressures inside of you. At least that’s how it made me feel on my visits with the music, and while the black ambiance, and slow-moving storm can feel heavy and sorrowful, there are glimmers of hope. Vocals are washed into the background, but their emotions are readily apparent, and this record has been a good one for introspection and examination of buried feelings. It’s something in which to get lost, emerging once your pathway is illuminated.

“Solar Inviction” emits eerie darkness, detached voices swirling in the air, swelling into shadows. Strange, warbled voices vibrate, the playing slowly navigating dark waters, and everything swims into miasma. “Transmissions” brings haunting whispers and sounds quaking, calls stinging as the synth chills. The words sting your ears as cold waves lap, rumbling and subsiding. “Black River Part 1” is frigid and scary, singing slipping behind your consciousness, messages seemingly coming to you from the spirit world. A disarming aura envelopes as the singing grows more intense and direct, chrome visions melt over the earth, and the words slip away.

“The Poisonous Vine” starts with a mechanical voice wrapping around your psyche, foreboding sound blankets shrouding with mystery, flowing into the murk as synth rises. Voices corrode and blend into a dream, strange, warped reverberations spiraling. “Black River Part 2” is immersive, clouds thickening, the singing hovering as spirits gather. Keys push into a chasm, moans clutch at wrists, and the drama ends in foggy dampness. Closer “Chrysalis” slips in through ash, sounds fluttering as the singing numbs, mystical atmospherics getting inside your brain. A knocking echo rivets, urgency growls as the singing aches, fading off into smoke.

“Edax Solis” is another thorough entrance into a nightmarish void that wraps you in warmth and mystery, something Sataray does so elegantly. These six tracks are mesmeric and practically take you into a dream state in which you reach beyond yourself into greater understanding. It’s a ritualistic wonder, music that is more of a greater beast that’s setting up shop inside your brain to take over controls for good.

For more on the band, go here: https://sataray.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://sataray.bandcamp.com/album/edax-solis