The band Set to Stun has been growing for a while. It is a three piece band featuring lead singer/vocalist Damien Wong, Taylor Wong on bass/vocals and Marcus Molina on the drums. There has been a large gap between releasing songs although “VALKYRIE ONE” is their first compilation. “VALKYRIE ONE” has 9 songs in total including some songs that were released as singles prior to this album’s launch. Here are reviews of some of the top tracks on the album:
Track five “THE HOLY MOUNTAIN” sounds similar to his other music as it has the same beat and everything although the words are a lot different. He uses words like “Oh death where is thy sting? Oh grave where is thy victory?” and he has not really used words like these in his music. This might be the beginning of a new structure of his music.
Track six “THE LAST ADAM” sounds similar to “THE HOLY MOUNTAIN,” with lyrics like, “When first I took my pen in hand, for thus to write not understanding…” with a lot of the same words just a bit quieter. It still has the same feeling as “STARIA III: THE ACOLYTES OF AMADEUS.” It sounds a lot like a love song but I can’t tell if it is. This is also a short song, barely two minutes, while their singles had been up to six or eight minutes.
Track seven “V: VALKRIE ONE” sounds a lot louder, faster, and higher in beat than the other songs on this album. It sounds similar to their other music although the vocals are unique. This song also includes something new that I have not seen in his writing: “ Seven times I fell on the narrow, but I was eight times I got up yesterday I didn’t want to see tomorrow but today keeps calling my bluff.”
This stands out to me because he talked about something similar in one of his first songs: “..And at the funeral, I was tearin’ up the dance floor, cause they were playing my favorite song all night long. To my surprise, it was an open-casket but the body in the coffin was mine,” the only time that he has talked about his own death.
Track three, “STARIA III: THE ACOLYTES OF AMADEUS,” is a love song it seems for his kid. It starts with, “Sweet child of mine, you were born of the night, and you will rise in the east like my father before me now take the knife, and by your blood, you swear to me.” Although the lyrics don’t initially sound like a love song, it is performed with a more upbeat, loving tone. At the beginning of the song, it says “I tried to call you but you couldn’t even pick up the phone so I’ll leave you with the memory,” which sounds more romantic, including saying “To all the women that I have hurt.”
Track nine, “AXEL TRIPS” is definitely a song about his child. Part of the song even says, “Hush little baby.” This lyric in addition to the message about thinking of everyone who has touched his life and that he has touched seems to match that idea. This is also the last song in the album if that says anything about the goodbye.
In the end, this three piece band has really made their way through the music industry without really fitting into a category. They will be able to branch out, possibly making their own category if they want to, and it has only started for them.
