The above clip of trad doomers Apostle of Solitude playing the ultra-melancholy “December Drives Me to Tears” from their 2010 album Last Sunrise was filmed by Steve Janiak of fellow Indianapolis rockers Devil to Pay and mixed with audio captured by Michael Lindenauer, a noted taper who also happens to manage Iron Man. Pretty good draw for Apostle of Solitude there, and like they were at SHoD (where both Lindenauer and Janiak also put in an appearance; the latter on guitar), they’re spot on in their performance of the song.

It’s not exactly doom season yet around here — I tend to focus more on this kind of stuff when it’s cold out, and I’ve got the air conditioning on full blast as I type this — but it’s been awfully riff-rocky around here lately, and I thought some good doom might mix things up. Wouldn’t you know my head went right to Apostle of Solitude when I thought of the words “good doom.” Go figure.

Next week I’ll be posting my interview with John Garcia of Kyuss (Lives!), so look out for that. We’ll have another installment of the Orange Goblin studio update series, and the dudes in Wizard’s Beard also turned in their Six Dumb Questions emailer, so hopefully that will be up as well. Also, if all goes according to plan, reviews of Lord, Dixie Witch and others. Weedeater is playing in Brooklyn tomorrow night if you’re around. I’ve got my niece tomorrow, so I won’t be at the show, but if you go, hope it’s a blast. I think Oxbow is playing too. Heavy.

Speaking of heavy shows in Brooklyn, don’t forget that Sept. 20, The Obelisk and BrooklynVegan are teaming up to bring you a night Sept. 20 at Union Pool with three of Small Stone Records‘ finest acts: Suplecs, The Brought Low and Lo-Pan. More info on that here and here. I’ve been thinking of it as an unofficial advance party for New Yorkers ahead of the Small Stone showcase in Philly that weekend.

Wherever you end up tomorrow or beyond, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I have some news I need to catch up on putting on the forum, so I’ll see you there and back here Monday.

Because it’s already two in the morning, and because I’m tired, and because there’s a lot to get to, I’m going to cover Stoner Hands of Doom XI in note form. That seems like the most direct line between point A (the show) and point B (the coverage). Tomorrow, pending sobriety and/or the requisite energy — both of which are in short supply at the moment — I might decide to do something completely different. I reserve that right. For now, here goes:

Borracho: After the ride down from NJ and the arrival at the Days Inn where I’m staying, I opened up the bottle of wine I brought with me, turned on the stream of the Yankees radio broadcast and tried to relax a bit before heading back out over to Krug’s Place. Needless to say, the “fuck it” demons were out in full force, but not missing Borracho was a big part of what got me off my ass and back in the car over to the venue. Really. They were even better tonight than they were with Truckfighters, and they basically started their set with the soundcheck. I guess it was kind of a stutter way to kick off the fest, but once they got going, they were locked in for sure. They still need to tighten up their presentation, but already they were too good for the early-showing crowd that caught them. I felt fortunate to be in that number.

Ancient Astronaught: I didn’t realize it until I talked with guitarist/vocalist Skipper (who identified himself as such) following their performance, but all three members of the Fairfax, Virginia, three-piece are formerly of Ol’ Scratch. Skipper was in the band in 2008 and toured with them, and some of the lessons he learned in that now-defunct outfit he’s obviously brought to Ancient Astronaught — most pivotally in tone. Theirs was the first of several truly sick Sunn tones throughout the night, and though their songs were basically vehicles for conveying riffs and shouts and the occasional bit of stonerdelia, I’ve zero complaints with that. They were loud as hell and I dug it as one of several instances tonight in which my earplugs were rendered useless.

Against Nature: They’re another one. Speaking of Sunn amps, Against Nature guitarist/vocalist John Brenner played pedal-less (quite a contrast to Skipper‘s setup during Ancient Astonaught; his pedal board literally lit up) through a Sunn Beta Lead, and it was one of the most gorgeous tones of the night. Bassist Bert Hall, Jr., also won out on the night’s best bass sound, as it was crisp and clear, but still full and totally fuzzed. Having been a fan of Against Nature‘s work for so long from the albums, it was excellent to finally see them live. The laid back air Brenner brings to the recordings was still intact, but they definitely had a vibrancy to their set as well. Killer to get some classic rock on the SHoD bill. I spent their whole set thinking about how much ass a tour of them and Stone Axe would kick.

Windhand: I’d seen their name forever, and they had the drummer from Facedowninshit (he might also be in The Might Could — and where the hell, might I ask, are those guys this weekend?), so I was excited to finally see Windhand in-person, and they didn’t disappoint. They laid it on thick and viscous with Electric Wizard-style riffing, and that was enjoyable enough, but their considerable noise element only made the whole affair heavier. Strange to have that kind of noise following Against Nature, but it worked. It was that kind of bill, and the people who were there were more than willing to go along for the ride. They were a lot of fun, and I tried to acquire a CD, asking both vocalist Dorothea Cottrell and guitarist Garrett Morris,  to no avail. The Richmond outfit continue to elude me, but they killed.

Apostle of Solitude: Here’s who I was at the show. I was the guy who, as Apostle of Solitude — now featuring Devil to Pay axeman Steve Janiak on second guitar/vocals alongside bassist “Iron” Bob Fouts, drummer Corey Webbb and guitarist/vocalist Chuck Brown — was setting up, yelled out “Celtic Frost!” I have zero regrets at having done so, especially since they wound up closing with “Procreation of the Wicked.” They played one or two new songs before getting there (I seem to recall one was called “Good Riddance” or something like that), and were generally awesome. I’d seen them in NYC a while back and they were good enough at that time for me to buy not one, but two, t-shirts, both of which I still wear on the regular. If they’d had a third to go with their SHoD set, I’d totally have picked it up. Their split CD with The Flight of Sleipnir and Rituals of the Oak would have to suffice, and as I’m sitting here in survival testimony, indeed it did.

Negative Reaction was supposed to headline tonight in place of The Gates of Slumber (Lord, also listed on the poster above, will play Sunday), but fest organizer Rob Levey got on stage as Apostle of Solitude were finishing what would have been their regular set to announce that a member of the band had an immediate medical emergency. Guitarist/vocalist Ken-E Bones and drummer John “Old” MacDonald were hanging out in the Krug’s parking lot, so pretty safe to assume it was bassist Damon who had the trouble. They’ll hopefully be able to round out the bill tomorrow.

The dates came in via the PR wire from Profound Lore, and since there aren’t that many of them and it’s not like Apostle of Solitude is on tour eight months out of the year, I strongly urge you check the band out should they be in your area. Doom:

Indianapolis doom metal heroes Apostle of Solitude will be embarking on a mini US tour this July which will take them on the road in support of Last Sunrise. The dates and bands listed to play with AoS for the tour are listed below, with some venues TBA (which will be updated of course upon confirmation). We can only imagine how monumental the tracks from Last Sunrise will sound live. Dates are as follows:

July
07/17 The Loud House, Cincinnatti, OH (w/ Beneath Oblivion and Highgate)
07/18 TBA, Pittsburgh, PA
07/19 The M-Room in Philadelphia, PA
07/20 Court Tavern, New Brunswick, NJ (w/ Maegashira)
07/21 Ace of Clubs, Manhattan, NY (w/ Archon, Kings Destroy)
07/22 Bug Jar, Rochester, NY (w/ Orodruin)
07/23 Annabell’s, Akron, OH (w/ Mach II, Mocking Bird)
07/24 Metal Shaker, Chicago, IL (w/ Iron Tongue)
07/30 Melody Inn, Indianapolis, IN (w/ Earthride, Valkyrie, and Bible of the Devil)

The music on their sophomore offering, Last Sunrise — the follow-up to 2008′s stellar Sincerest Misery — is undeniably modern in structure, sound, feel and production, but there’s also no question that it is traditional doom, and linked to a lineage of bands that spans decades. But, with eyes geared toward the future, they’re not just rehashing old Sabbath or Trouble riffs and calling it a record. They’re bringing that sound, and us as listeners, forward with them.

Brown, who is joined in Apostle of Solitude by Justin Avery (guitar), Brent McClellan (bass) and Corey Webb (drums), recently took some time out for an in-depth telephone interview to discuss the careful processes behind making Last Sunrise, and the consideration that went into the details of the album. Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

Where did the title come from? Was there a story behind that?

Yeah. Not a hugely deep story behind it, just the idea, I guess, that two people are committing a lover’s double suicide. As they see their last sunrise they’re gonna off each other (laughs). That was the only thought behind it. Two or three songs on the record deal with tragic love themes, so it seems fitting. It’s not a concept record, but there were two or three songs that have that vibe to them, so it seemed appropriate. I’d seen a movie – I forget what it’s called now – maybe called The Party or something, on the Independent Film Channel, and it had this scene where it’s supposed to be the last day on earth and these two complete strangers can’t get to their loved ones, so they decide to off each other before the world ends. They were sitting on the rooftop, pointing their guns at each other’s heads, so we spun some of that; lovers and that kind of thing. It kind of stuck from that.

Have you gotten a lot of response about the artwork?

(Laughs) We have, and most of it has not been positive. We somewhat expected it would be like, “What’s that all about?” We didn’t expect that people would hate it so much (laughs). I don’t know whether people dislike it maybe because they think it looks cheap. I don’t know. I’m not sure what it is. We really spent a lot of time thinking about it and dealing with it, and it was by no means like, “Let’s do something easier.” We had to have a photoshoot and think about it and have the design guy mess with it. We tried to make an attempt to do something creative and artistic and a little out of the ordinary and do something with a photograph rather than the skulls and blood and tits. We like all that stuff, don’t get me wrong. There’s a million albums that have that stuff that I like, but we were just trying to do something a little different. Swing and a miss, I guess (laughs). We all like it. It’s one of those things. We all dug it and thought it looked really cool, but so far the response has not been that.

That’s what you get for trying something different.

(Laughs) Maybe if we’re ever fortunate enough to re-press it, we’ll put a collage of skulls, fire, tits, swords, blood, and it’ll just be a big collage. We’ll make the band name completely illegible. Whatever. We dig it. Maybe it’ll grow on some people.

How do you feel about the album itself? Have you gotten a chance to sit with it?

I have. Admittedly, I didn’t listen to it for three weeks after recording because I was sick of it, but I’m very happy with it. I hear stuff on it that I’m like, “Man, I wish we could get this in back or this in front, I wish we tried this or that, I wish I could do that again,” but the goal was, on the whole, to make a better record than Sincerest, and that’s a matter of opinion, whether it’s better or not, but for us, we feel like we played better, wrote better songs, and in that sense, we felt like we found a set. Yeah, I’m happy. I’ll be honest, I’m ready to write some new songs and record again and try to do something even better. As a whole, yeah, I’m pretty happy with it.

Were you surprised at the reaction Sincerest Misery got?

I was, a little bit. Not that I expected anybody to hate it or anything, but I didn’t think people would like it as much as they did. That’s enormously flattering, it’s great. Not that I expected someone to say, “This is the biggest turd,” but I didn’t expect anybody to say, “This is my favorite record of the year.” That’s really flattering, that somebody digs it as much as you do. That’s pretty cool.

Other than topping Sincerest Misery, was there something different you wanted to do going into Last Sunrise?

I don’t know about a stylistic thing, but we just wanted to be more creative. Sincerest Misery, everything felt more to the point, straightforward. This, I think we definitely made a conscious effort to try and get a little more creative with either the arrangements or the second guitar part, or a harmony here, or vocal harmony there, just try to put a little bit more layer to it, because the person who is into the band enough that they’re going to listen to us more than once, that they can hear something new the next time and appreciate we went out of our way to do more than just write a verse/chorus/verse/chorus, then record. That’s the biggest thing we tried to do a little bit differently, just try and put a little more thought behind it, try to do something that a diehard could appreciate. I hope that most people will spin it more than a couple times and let it grow on them, because I think if they do, they’re gonna hear little things in there. They’ll hear little differences in guitar tones. We used some different amps on different songs. Justin used a different guitar on a song here and there, so there were some things that, if you’re a person who really listens to records and really gets into them, if you pay attention, they’re there.

It does seem like the kind of record that the more time you spend with it, the more you hear.

Yeah. And we hope so. I really hope that some people are able to do that. And I understand some people won’t, some people just aren’t into that. They’re into pressing play and getting satisfaction right away, and that’s fine. But I hope some people will give it a chance and let it sink in a little bit.

How did the recording process go? How long were you in the studio?

We were in the studio for six days. It was down in Bloomington, Indiana, which is about an hour south of us, where IU is. We went down there, for the first three days all we did was tracking the music and the vocals, and then we went back down like a week later, two weeks maybe, and finished any solos or any vocal overdubs that needed to be done, then went to the mixing. Six days total, then we sent it off to be mastered and whatnot. That was nice. Sincerest, we only had five days, and this one we had six. I guess that was another goal, was to try and get another day out of it or a little longer to record. Hopefully it’ll be a goal next time too, to spend a little more time in the studio, which is all contingent on label support and everybody’s family schedules, because obviously all of us have families and things like that. Hopefully we can do that next time, maybe spend 10 days down there and get even more into the actual recording process.

Did you feel rushed with the six days?

Kind of, yeah. At least for me, I always kind of feel that way. I would love to have the opportunity the way bands on really large labels get weeks or months to sit there in the studio and just try different things. On this level of bands, for the most part, bands have written the record before they go into the studio, and they’re essentially going in there and hit record and trying to do different things. On a larger scale, a lot of those bands have just the skeletons of songs and they write the record in the studio, which, I don’t know if I’d want to do that for every single record, but that’d be pretty cool to be able to go into the studio and just experiment and try stuff for weeks or months or whatever, and really get into the recording process. Try different amps and mics and guitars, different song arrangements. Really write your record in the studio. That would be pretty cool. Hopefully one day we’ll get there, but I won’t hold my breath (laughs).

That’s what the home studio is good for.

It is, you’re right. That’s one of the benefits of technology, at least recording-wise, affording guys the opportunity to really craft songs well and try songs out. But even with that said, you’ve got to know how and do them well. We’ve got a four-track that we write songs with, but to be able to [record] well and benefit from it. That’s the nice thing about going into the studio. It’s a separate environment, it’s professional, and you have a third party there that’s just unbiased at least in the sense of they’re not in the band and have no stake in whether you succeed or fail and they’re going to help you record a record and try to get good sounds. That’s what’s nice about going to the studio and having an engineer there that can tell you, “That sounded like shit, man” (laughs). Can’t get that at home, I guess. Your wife might tell you that, but I don’t know if that counts.

What’s the story behind “Letting Go of the Wheel?”

“Acknowledging the Demon,” “Other Voices” and “Letting Go of the Wheel” actually go together, as far as the concept. Those are all three about the same thing. It’s not a concept record, per se, but those three songs belong together and when we do play out, we’ll probably play those three together, because that’s how they were written. They’re separate, but when we practice and rehearse, those are always played together. Those are all about the same thing, which is a combo thing of – I don’t know how familiar you are with Stephen King — but he had a book called Dark Half. I’ll try to keep it concise, but it’s a writer who writes under another name sometimes, and when he writes these books, he feels like he becomes another person and so on. In the book, the other person he writes as ends up coming to life, and so it’s a combination of that and the idea of someone who’s a serial killer and has this other voice in their head, this other half that takes over the wheel. We just fit those two ideas together, that someone has this dark half of them that takes control and makes them do things. That’s what “Letting Go of the Wheel” is: letting this other thing take control. “Acknowledging the Demon” is acknowledging this thing exists. “Other Voices” just has that small spoken word part, and “Letting Go of the Wheel” is just the completion of this good half letting go of the wheel and here comes the bad guy (laughs).

Were those songs written as one piece of music?

When we wrote them, we knew we wanted to put three songs together. Yes, they were written together, but they had their starts and stops. They were made separate, but when we wrote them, we did “Acknowledging the Demon,” and said, “Okay, now we’re gonna write part two to go with it, then when that is over, we’ll write this third part.” They were all written together, yes, but it wasn’t that it was one long song that we decided to put space in between or anything like that.

How much time went into the flow and sequence of the record?

It’s funny you mention that. Yes, that was one of the other little details that we did, that we really thought about, “What should the order of the songs be?” We knew the three would stay together, but we really thought about what was appropriate, what should start it, what should finish it, what should come after what and how they should flow one into another, should there be a dead stop or should we let one cross-fade into another. Yeah, we put a lot of thought into what the song order would be and how one would or would not fade into another. And the studio affords you the idea of playing with that, because you can say, “What if we put this song in this place instead? Nah, nah, nah, keep it this way.” Again, those little details that I hope people will recognize that, yeah, there was a conscious effort to start this record with “Last Sunrise” and go forth with the rest of it. We didn’t consciously think, “These are the shorter songs, these are the longer ones,” but we definitely wanted to make sure these songs went in this order, faded into each other this way, or dead stopped into this and stuff like that.

How about the covers? Picking the cover songs. Last time you went with “Electric Funeral” and this time you went all out with it.

Since we had two labels – part of the reason for that is we liked both labels, both are really good independent labels, and the other reasoning is we’ll go all out and try and do a separate cover for Eyes Like Snow, a separate cover for Profound Lore, we’ll put separate bonus tracks on each, the layout will be a little different. Hopefully you’ll get copies of both and you’ll see that the cover art, obviously the concept is the same, but it’s a little different. The color’s a little different. The actual layout is a little different. One has handwritten lyrics, one has typed lyrics. The bonus tracks are different for each one. We did that because we knew, going into the recording months ahead that, “Let’s do everything we can to make each label’s release unique.” One of the things we had told the labels is the benefit of it is twice the promotion. It’s good for everybody. It’s good for us because it’s twice the promotion, it’s two different records and cover arts out there, and it’s good for them because then if somebody wants these bonus tracks or these bonus tracks or somebody likes this cover art or that cover art, that was the whole reasoning behind it. That’s why we did six bonus songs instead of just one, was to help make each label’s respective release unique.

What’s planned show-wise? I know you said everybody’s got families, everybody’s obviously got jobs. I’m not asking when does the five-month world tour start, but what do you have coming up?

In March, we’re gonna be playing a show with Priestess and Bison B.C. They’re coming through Indy, so we’re going to play with them. That’s before our CD release show, but we wanted to play with them, so we took the show, that’s on the 25^th or something of March. Our actual record release show, here in Indy, is on a Saturday night in April, and then in May we’re playing with Black Pyramid and Let the Night Roar here in Indy, so those three are all local, then we plan on, June or July, going out for about nine days. From where we’re located in Indy – we’ve done this before – that affords us to make a loop. We can get all the way out to the East Coast and back in those nine days, so we’ll probably do something, I don’t know, Chicago and Cleveland, then get over to New York City, D.C.-area and maybe Philly and Pittsburgh. It makes a nice little loop. Unfortunately, from where we’re at in Indy, to get out to the West Coast, you’d need to go out for two or three weeks just because of how long it takes to get there. We would like to do that at some point, it’s just we’d have to really coordinate everybody’s schedules so we can be off for two or three weeks at a time instead of just the typical, short mini-tour of eight or nine days. That’s the immediate plan. Those three shows that are already booked, then we’ll start trying to book the summer tour in the next couple months. We’ve talked about it numerous times and we’d love to get over to Europe for a couple weeks, and the same applies as for the West Coast, if you’re gonna go, you need to take a couple weeks. But we’d love to get over there for a couple weeks, because there’s a good reception over there. I went over there with The Gates of Slumber, and that’s a real different reception of how they treat you in clubs versus the US. Looking forward to going back.

Apostle of Solitude on MySpace

Profound Lore

Eyes Like Snow

So if Apostle of Solitude had anything post-Sincerest Misery, it was their work cut out for them. It is, therefore, all the more satisfying to say that Last Sunrise, the band’s label debut for Profound Lore, more than lives up to its predecessor on every level. From the massive, slow bleed that closes “December Drives Me to Tears” or the visceral emptiness that makes up the whole of “Letting Go of the Wheel” — a rare song that feels too short at nine minutes — Apostle of Solitude the nigh-impossible balance between progress and staying true to what’s already been established as their sound. Five of the nine non-bonus cuts on Last Sunrise are over the seven-minute mark, the closing trio of “Sister Cruel,” “Frontiers of Pain” (huge) and “Coldest Love” (ditto) hitting in succession following the aforementioned “December Drives Me to Tears.”

But it’s somehow cheap to talk about song lengths when even the shorter material, songs like “Hunter Sick Rapture” (a paltry 4:45), pack so much weight as well. Based around a traditionally NWOBHM galloping riff, the song is no less forlorn than its more spread out musical compatriots. If anything, the band sounds all the more desperate for the extra energy. The opening title track, “Last Sunrise (Requiem)” is little more than an intro, albeit one whose slow unfolding is even more of a setup for the album to come than the song itself. Perhaps Apostle of Solitude wanted to start Last Sunrise with the more straightforward, rocking material up front, because both “Acknowledging the Demon” and “Other Voices” are under four minutes. Brown and guitarist Justin Avery lead the charge, making “Acknowledging the Demon” an immediately memorable affair, but the rhythm section of drummer Corey Webb and Brent McClellan do an excellent job of grounding the songs, whether the atmosphere’s oppression is coming from the outward heaviness of a given track or its naked minimalism.

The transition between “Acknowledging the Demon” and “Other Voices” is seamless and so fluid they could almost be the same song. This, as well as the progression evident in the structure and playing of the band, shows the growth Apostle of Solitude have undertaken since Sincerest Misery. For being instrumental, “Other Voices” is no less lyrical than any of its surrounding cuts, and “Letting Go of the Wheel” — my immediate favorite for the sheer wretchedness of its ambience — comes as easily out of “Other Voices” as “Other Voices” did from “Acknowledging the Demon.” The flow of the album is flawless and remains so throughout.

There are varying bonus tracks depending on which release is purchased, be it double-LP vinyl (which includes everything), North American or European CD issue. The version of Last Sunrise I was given for review was the former CD, which boasts covers of The Obsessed, Born Against and Misfits, and though I might have enjoyed hearing Brown sing Celtic Frost’s “Procreation of the Wicked” on the Euro version, the fidelity they show to Misfits while maintaining their own thickness of tone made “Astro Zombies” a late album highlight. “Streetside” felt appropriate, linking Apostle of Solitude right to The Obsessed’s fertile doom lineage, and Born Against was a surprise choice, but also ably done. As they took on Black Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral” to close out Sincerest Misery, with Last Sunrise, they seem to have just taken the idea and run with it. Kudos.

On an aesthetic level, what’s perhaps most interesting about Apostle of Solitude is how uniquely American their sound is, despite being somehow universal within the genre. I don’t know if it’s some kind of self-determinism built into their riffs, the Indiana countryside bleeding into their sound on an unconscious level or what, but the feel is unmistakable. Perhaps it’s the lack of schooling that seems evident. Apostle of Solitude — while talented musicians; please don’t think I’m saying otherwise — have an immediacy in their music that sounds the way colonial portraiture was painted before there were any art schools in the country. The rawness of the emotions present and of the presentation of those emotions stands toe to toe with the songcraft, and is as much a focus of Last Sunrise as any given riff or solo.

Given the amount of quality albums that have come out so far, it’s hard to believe we’re only into the beginning of February, 2010, but Apostle of Solitude’s second outing is perhaps foremost in an increasingly growing line of necessities this nascent decade has produced. For doom heads, it is absolutely not to be missed. And hell, for non-doom heads too. Maybe the Hoosiers can win over some converts.

Apostle of Solitude on MySpace

Profound Lore

December Drives Me to Tears

The song is called “December Drives Me to Tears,” and goodness gracious it’s doomy. Apostle of Solitude is perfect for a case of the winter bum-outs. The other new song can be heard on the band’s MySpace, and it’s called “Hunter Sick Rapture.” Also rules.

Profound Lore had this to say about Last Sunrise:

Last Sunrise is a surging work of traditionally played hard hitting doom metal in the familiar vein of such bands as Solitude Aeturnus, Candlemass, St. Vitus, and The Obsessed (whose track “Streetside” the band cover on the North American version of Last Sunrise), you know, the usual legendary suspects.  It’s an album that touches upon the realistic modern-day themes which confront our emotions through trials of grief, loss, and ultimately, inevitable despair. The musical journey of Last Sunrise is an adventurous one and by the time the surging album closer “Coldest Love” (which we attest will be one of the best doom metal tracks you’ll hear all year, a track quite reminiscent of the power that bands like Warning unleashed with their Watching from a Distance album) falls upon the listener, the tale of the doomed lovers unravels as the inevitable end triumphs in pure doom metal glory.

We?re awaiting the final master to the new album from the new gods of US doom metal, namely Apostle of Solitude. Last Sunrise is a doom metal masterpiece that comes across as the heaviest and most emotionally driven material that Apostle of Solitude have crafted. In what easily surpasses the band?s previous work (and we know how good that is), Last Sunrise is a soul stirring doom metal opus that is a soundtrack to the emotional and tragic circumstances that we get confronted with during these harsh times of need and desperation.

Tracklisting to Last Sunrise goes as follows:
1. Last Sunrise (Requiem)
2. Acknowledging the Demon
3. Other Voices
4. Letting Go of the Wheel
5. Hunter Sick Rapture
6. December Drives Me to Tears
7. Sister Cruel
8. Frontiers of Pain
9. Coldest Love

Our version (Eyes Like Snow are releasing this in Europe) will include three exclusive hidden bonus tracks as well (these were recorded by The Gates of Slumber/current Nachtmystium live drummer Bob Fouts). Them being ?Streetside? (The Obsessed), ?Mary and Child? (Born Against), and ?Astro Zombies? (The Misfits).