Sun Worship – Pale Dawn (2016)

Hailing from Germany, today we have promising Black Metal trio Sun Worship and their sophomore release “Pale Dawn”. Having influences from ranging from Cascadian Black Metal to old-school Norwegian Black Metal, this band has constantly delivered killer EP and split releases which showcase their raw potential. Hitting the listener like a bag of bricks, this is one of the most intense releases of 2016.

Opening with the ravaging “Pale Dawn”, the wall of sound is instantly lifted with punishing riffs and hyper fast drumming. The band’s raw power is uncanny thanks to their piercing riffing and crushing tempo changes. While the first track has a certain USBM/Cascadian BM vibe, “Lichtenberg Features” quickly changes this with brilliant Immortal-esque riffs and melodic undertones, making it one of our favorite tracks in this release.

Continuing with their onslaught, “Naiad” keeps the level of intensity quite high and tense. With a  similar intensity threshold like their fellow countrymen Der Weg einer Freiheit, Sun Worship focuses more crafting heavy and destructive atmosphere without the need of keyboards and other melodic elements. The closer “Perhelion” gives is a little twist on how the band uses vocals, creating a very haunting and quite fitting ending track to a very intense and impressive release, with a more melodic edge to things.

Crafted to perfection, Sun Worship’s sound is quite intense and demolishing. The band’s sheer brutality is nicely offset by a brilliant production that allows all the raw energy to be presented directly to the listener. “Pale Dawn” presents us with a brilliant mixture of old-school and ‘new-school’ Black Metal, showcasing that both styles can easily be combined to perfection. If you are a fan of the genre, you do not want to miss out of this little gem.

Label: Gold Antenna Records

Release: May 6th, 2016

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Germany