Apostle of Solitude - Last Sunrise

Doom metal from right next door to my yard comes through the Indianapolis quartet called Apostle of Solitude. Horrible cover art aside, the music is what counts here so I go in somewhat open-minded but that cover art is just…wrong.

Well, silly packaging notwithstanding, Apostle of Solitude issues Last Sunrise, which is a change of pace for me and the doom metal I’ve ingested in the last few hours. Not at all subdued or melancholy, this brand of sorrowed metal is loud, boisterous metal that isn’t meant to force your intuitive contemplation; it’s the music of the angry gods that want you to know you’ve effectively ticked them off somehow.

The opening track “Last Sunrise (Requiem)” is one hell of an instrumental, slamming into your ears like a large riding mower over your throat. It’s really ear-catching and powerful, as is its following song titled “Acknowledging the Demon”. There’s some good doomy metal here that’s reliant on the fist-to-the-nose approach as opposed to the invade-your-emotional-process stance. When the song suddenly cuts into a second instrumental “Other voices” I’m wondering what comes next from this album.    

I like the production here because it’s crisply-amplified chaos at its very best. The slower parts of the record are not so slow that you’re nodding off in vain attempts to stay awake. Rather, the music creates a sullen sort of mind frame just readying you for that one spot of comfort so as to shatter the still, but it doesn’t come here, a fine change of pace. The descending vocal in “Letting Go of the Wheel” feels more like someone’s letting go of the physical body; it’s a track of discernable sobriety, making the listener give him or herself completely over to the eulogy-like tone. This album is more along the lines of a lethargic continuous slap to the face in a consistent loop, and that’s not knocking the music one iota. Quite oppositely, this music is somewhat entrancing and mildly hypnotic in itself, and as I said it’s a nice shock to the weary system.

The agony of Last Sunrise is not lost on the doom aficionado; any true fan of the genre would relish the opportunity to take in such a power-chord-heavy collective such as this that relies little on breaking convention and utilizes the typical ‘blueprint’ formula to a higher end. My favorite track on the album is “Hunter Sick Rapture” because it sounds like a nice Cathedral/Hour of 13 hybrid that just reeks of some homegrown essence. From the dark, dismal wastelands of…Indiana…comes a CD not to be missed if you’re a true depressed individual that enjoys life, but finds comfort in your discomfort.        

Release Date: February 26, 2010
Label: Eyes Like Snow/
Profound Lore Records

TRACK LISTING

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

Total playing time:  53:51

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Reviewer: Chris

March 19, 2011

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