Review Summary: The sun is setting, and it sounds like the end of the world.
Density is made up of two properties, mass and volume. And this demo has lots of both. After repeated listens, the density starts to fall away and you find that underneath the harsh and ugly exterior of this demo, comes sheer brutality, amazing musicianship, and riff after riff. Sunless pull off some of the most original, interesting, and absolutely crushing music to come out this year, and all in 10 minutes.
Dissonance and harmony and brutality and juxtaposition. Sunless never sits still for the entirety of this 10 minute demo. The production is crisp and precise, allowing each instrument to be showcased and pass the torch measure to measure. The drums undeniably shine through, with machine gun speed blast beats and switching from technicality to groove in an instant. Guitars trade back and forth technical and mind boggling chords and progressions over unconventional time signatures. And the vocals add the cherry on the demonic sundae. Guttural, powerful and intense, the voice loses its definition, and becomes an instrument in itself.
Sunless creates a sonic landscape akin to an apocalypse soundtrack. Swirling around a person’s head, crushing your skull with anger and torment. Perhaps confusing or disorienting at first, but realization will show that every nuance, every drum fill and belted growl is there for a reason. This demo is shaping a sound of their own, a sound of death, a sound of pitch black, murky, abysmal, sunless.
Death metal is a name that probably scares most people, especially most moms, and it should. This music is ugly, it’s scary, it sounds like death and anguish. So then why do people watch horror movies? Or turn on the news and see death every day? Death is an everyday part of life, so why not head bang to it?
