Surya – Into The Emerald

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · April 7, 2025

Surya is a four-piece hard rocking psychedelic band from Cádiz, Spain. They have released 2017’s Vol. 1 EP, their debut full length- 2019’s Overthrown, and a Live EP- 2021’s Live At La Plata. On January 31st, the band released their latest sophomore album, entitled Into The Emerald. The album contains seven tracks at forty four minutes long. The current lineup consists of Antonio Hierro on guitar and vocals, Carlos Camisón on drums and vocals, Jose Mª Zapata on bass, and Jose Moares on guitar and acoustic guitars. Koe Casas plays organ and electric piano on the track “Shields at the Dawn Forest”.

The album starts with a nice minute and a half instrumental introduction called “Evergreen River”. It’s has a mellow clean psychedelic sounding ensemble that builds up towards the end and kicks right into “A Blazing Crusade”. The song has a nice hard rocking flow that encompasses great vocal melodies, especially on the chorus. The music has a loose and roomy vibe with nicely crafted riffs that glides along beautifully. The guitar leads have a great mix of noise rocking that blends into luscious harmonies. The third track “Through The Stone” fuses the music right in from the start. The straight ahead rocker spews forth hard pounding drums with elegant guitar riffing throughout. The vocals are decent and work nicely with the rhythmic pace of the track.

“Beyond Eyes Of Gold” has a spacy accent that holds things softer when the melodic vocals kick in. The music stays somewhat subdued on the verses but punches up between the sections. The song boasts a sonically satisfying chorus that keeps the rock soaring until retrieving back into more clean guitar sounds and euphonious melodies. The light to heavy transitions are well calibrated with the almost nine minute track. Surya has a classic rock essence throughout Into The Emerald, which carries a warm and inviting atmosphere. The next track called “Arrows” has a very strong engaging draw to the music. The vocals capture lush and powerful dynamics that fair very well with the song. It definitely has an accessible sound to it, that of which could be heard on mainstream radio, if they actually played rock music that is.

“The Clashing” is another great track utilizing nice melodically pleasing guitar tones with fierce rocking rhythms. The vocals have a deeper sound on the verses that amps up on the chorus. More driving riffs enhanced with melodious tones that keeps the song very fresh and interesting. The seventh and final track is a sonic saga of epic proportions. “Shields At The Dawn Forest” is an ambitious fifteen plus minute gargantuan track. Surya does an amazing job of keeping the song stimulating despite its length. In fact, there is so much spellbinding and riveting sounds engrossed throughout the track that the listener will hardly notice it’s length. The band not only switch musical dynamics of light to heavy, but they keenly mix up the pacing and rhythm which guides the song into compelling and stimulating territory. Koe Casas layers some nice Hammond organ sounds to the tune, which gives it an extra allure to the already captivating composition. Overall, Into The Emerald is a fascinating listen and requires a few run throughs to fully comprehend Surya’s greatness. It is definitely worth the audio endeavor because the band has a lot going on with their music.