I have recently become a big fan of the sounds that have been coming out of Europe these days, and I am always looking for the next good find. So, what do you have it, I wind up coming across this interesting release? And with wicked album cover art like this, of a burning village with dead animal bones in front of it, something told me to check it out. The upcoming release from Alerta Antifascista Records, Nothing to Harvest Records, Maniyax Records, and Shove, NO SUN RISES called Ascent/Decay is an interesting find. Hailing from Germany, this band that started in 2015 prides themselves in being ANTI- fascist, racist, sexist, homophobic, oppressive and any other bigoted group as well. As this band sees it, we are ALL porked! And considering the sad state that our world is in currently, that is not only where they get their ideas from, but their sound as well.
The first track, Intro, is basically a lead in of daily city noise getting increasingly louder and more distorted until thunder and rain break into silence and then the music starts. The slow strumming of the opening guitar riff of the first song, Reproduktismus, already gives me a hint that an epic style song in vein of NEUROSIS Approaches. Eerie sounding guitar riffs, intense, death metal style drumming, and scratchy vocals from singer, Jonas, soon becomes the norm with this album. The songs blend into each other giving you the one-track album effect. Another thing that I noticed is it feels like the riffs coming from guitar players Timo and Gerritt tell a story of their own. Such is the case with Circles. Beginning with static then evolving to a song that has a lot of AT THE GATES influences present. The next song, Towards Sundown, has an interesting spoken word part in German that I will never know what the hell he is saying, but OK! It sounded cool. Bassist, Karl, and drummer, Justin seem to lock in well with each other throughout the whole CD. I have always felt that albums with an average song length of 6 minutes or more run a high risk of losing the listener early in the CD, but these guys passed the test. The last two songs, Thralldom and The Machinist, basically continued in the same direction of the rest of the songs on this album.
All in all, this was a very good album. Those of you that enjoy a little mind candy occasionally, should check this record out. Fans of Epic Style Metal should give this a listen as well.
Considering the current global political situation and the problems inherent in the Western capitalist system, one can’t help but conclude that the world is fucked. North Rhine-Westphalia’s “No Sun Rises” have also come to that conclusion. Taking an anarchist approach, they set themselves to shake the proverbial place where the sun never shines to the very foundations. The band started out playing crust and d-beat but, partly due to a line-up change (new bassist, additional guitarist), gradually changed their sound to heavy, atmospheric post-black metal. A wall of sound, composed of plangorous black metal riffs, frantic blast beats, atmospheric post-rock elements, and political-philosophical lyrics dealing with the human condition capture, and at the same time steamroll, the audience. Early samples of this sonic image can be found on the No Sun Rises / Dysania split tape, released on the Mackey’s Law label in 2017. The band’s forthcoming album “Ascent / Decay,“ set to be released in 2019, promises to also hammer the tidings of a decaying system and the resulting impact on humanity into the brains of the audience. Formed in 2015 (as a four-piece), “No Sun Rises,” whose members have played in bands like Unrest, Irrlicht, and Some Are More Equal, lyrically deal with human life in the postmodern era and manage to do so without the usual slogans, platitudes, and banalities. Driven by philosophical questions surrounding that topic, “No Sun Rises” have played in virtually every venue that shares, appreciates, and lives their views. Having been part of the musical and political underground for some years, they have shared the stage with bands like Celeste, Dawn Ray’d, No Omega, and Hexer. 2019 will see them embark on a tour of Germany. Some tour dates have already been announced through the band’s official channels. Nigh is the eternal sunset!
