• Record Label: Hyperdub
  • Release Date: Apr 26, 2011
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 12
  2. Negative: 0 out of 12
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  1. 88
    At times, the album draws more from drum and bass than from UK funky or any other bass music du jour.
  2. Apr 26, 2011
    83
    In spite of its sprawling palette, Black Sun is tight and compact, an album rather than simply a showcase.
  3. Q Magazine
    May 18, 2011
    80
    His second album evokes blade Runner's stylish futurism, populating it with Spaceape's paranoid poetry and drowning clean lines in tape crackle. [May 2011, p.119]
  4. Uncut
    May 13, 2011
    80
    Black Sun is subdued and ruminative: snaking around dancehall, grime, hip hop, but holding fast to its own uniqueness. [Jun 2011, p.87]
  5. Apr 28, 2011
    80
    This could be interpreted as a murky world of drug paranoia, or it could be a response to possible political disinformation and spin. Either way, it has made for one of UK bass music's most intelligent and consistent full length works.
  6. Apr 26, 2011
    80
    When a lunar time capsule next needs a musical artefact of almost indeterminable age, Kode9 & The Spaceape are your men.
  7. Apr 26, 2011
    80
    Black Sun is spotty and rusted, and it is likely that it will be interesting to most for this or that track - a grimy slayer, a leftfield floorfiller - or for the fact that it has a fantastic musique concrète apocalyptic vignette featuring Flying Lotus for a coda.
  8. Apr 20, 2011
    80
    The irony is Black Sun is better-suited for the club. The album's sounds and ideas are large enough to fill a dark, echoing room.
  9. Apr 26, 2011
    77
    Tension and anxiety don't always have to be cavernous and austere, and Black Sun reveals a way for dubstep's vanguard to express their more ominous impulses in a way you can still dance to, no matter how the steps change.
  10. The Wire
    May 3, 2011
    70
    Black Sun has a broader palette, even if it's not really any lighter. [Apr 2011, p.53]
  11. Apr 26, 2011
    70
    The privilege of reinvention is something we've always granted rock bands, so why not extend the courtesy to Black Sun, an electronic album that's awkward but earnest.
  12. Apr 26, 2011
    60
    Black Sun is more than adequate – but compared to the artists Kode9 has brought to prominence (Ikonika, Scratcha DVA, Funkystepz, Ill Blu), falls a touch short in terms of surprising ideas.
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Jul 7, 2013
    9
    An undisputed pioneer, a trailblazer who can rightly claim dubstep as primarily his creation, Steve Goodman, Ph.D, returns to fine form withAn undisputed pioneer, a trailblazer who can rightly claim dubstep as primarily his creation, Steve Goodman, Ph.D, returns to fine form with his sophomore album featuring doom-voiced prophet Spaceape. There is a smaller emphasis here on bass, to the point that some tracks seem to lack sub; this void is filled by a relentless death march of percussion and unnerving snare attacks. The fidgety atmosphere is heightened by Spaceape's vocals, noticeably lighter and less treated than on 2006's Memories of the Future he as often lurks around the shadows as full-on raps, and Shanghai vocalist Cha Cha is utilized to create an ethereal presence. By the time Flying Lotus drops in on the slowly-unfolding (and instantly silenced) "Kryon", the album's mysterious atmosphere has swallowed you whole. Full Review »
  2. Jul 15, 2011
    6
    Black Sun is one of the top 5 releases since 2011 under the umbrella of 'dubstep'. It's not as experimental, paranoid, or atmospherically richBlack Sun is one of the top 5 releases since 2011 under the umbrella of 'dubstep'. It's not as experimental, paranoid, or atmospherically rich as Memories of the Future, but it still provides an interesting electronica listen. This album focuses on ingenious, intricate, layered drum-lines, with atmospherics taking second on this album. The Spaceape's lyrics aren't as ominous or moving as Memories of the Future, but are still leagues ahead of other lyrics within the same genre Full Review »