Sunburst
Fragments of Creation
Inner Wound Recordings
2016
Sunburst is a new band, a quarter, bringing together two of the better scene proponents from Thessaly, guitarist Gus Drax and singer Vasillis Georgiou with extraordinaire drummer Kostas Mylonas and young but quite capable bassist Nick Grey and also Bob Katsionis (Firewind) on keys on most of the tracks and John K(outselinis) (Biomechanical, Deceptor etc.) on orchestral arrangements on the final track.
This Panhellenic gathering of talent manages to bring under the same roof two quite different schools. Vasilis has a voice that’s not dissimilar to Roy Khan’s to the point where he was considered for Kamelot and it’s probably something that both comes naturally and is not “forced” as his timbre is not too rough. Now Gus Drax is quite the capable virtuosic player that however seems to enjoy a more modern approach/sound, while in Black Fate another band that featured the two, things were decidedly more Kamelot-like, with even GD playing in a more subdued manner, the somewhat more prog nature and sound of Sunburst, while still retaining the characteristics of power metal allows him to flex more his musical muscle and display the guitar histrionics more amply. On its own, his playing would be impressive, but possibly not too appealing, but with VG on top, it all seems to work from the more modern to the more typical virtuosic tracks.
Grey and Mylonas also are locked in a tight symbiosis rhythmically that no matter how exceptional it might be performance wise, it expectedly sounds rather plastic, since the production is as modern as it could be (mind you almost giving similar ones a run for its money)…
“Out of the World” sounds like someone didn’t have his coffee in the morning and is angry as hell and that his favorite blend is called Papagalos Loom(id)is. Yes, Drax almost could apply to Nevermore after such a display, but at least his solo, despite being plethoric, is not boring and manages to be quite melodious. Georgiou manages to balance the song with his melodious singing.
“Dementia” pretty much continues this hybrid, but allows the song to “breathe” more, keeping the aggression under wraps and often exchanging keys and some melodic guitar parts, this time decidedly more like latter day Kamelot, but with quite a lot of stuff going on lower in the mix.
“Symbol of Life” begins with some blazing saddles, sorry I meant solo with a fair bit of tapping that sounds quite impressive, but progressively gets tamer, despite the quite aggressive riffing, Georgiou manages to be the catalyst that makes it all work, but still I have to say that Drux is quite the excellent soloist, perhaps a bit over the top still, but at least quite tasteful.
“Reincarnation” is probably the only song without additional orchestration in the form of keys or arrangements and has Drax going wild all over it (in mostly a good way) but with some nice harmonies on top courtesy of VG. Drax attempts to set the neck on fire during the solo, which also allows the Mylonas to get out a bit more and be heard, as his very steady playing no matter how important it is sounds (because of the production) not as evident...
“Lullaby” is a really aggressive number (just kidding)… is a frigging ballad that plugs in after the first minute and keeps on going back and forth, between a more acoustic mood and the more electric moments with Drax offering one of his better solos on the album and really managing something almost Conception-like in terms of quality without sounding like they cloned something…
“End of the Game” is pretty much another latter day Kamelot-like track and to be honest, with the US/Norwegians stuck in a bit of a creative rut, I suppose I might say I like these guys as much if not a tad more than the big K.
“Beyond the Darkest Sun” is a quite interesting instrumental with Drax playing some beautiful themes, but I must say that a little too quickly for my tastes, I would not mind losing that grungy bottom end and sustaining some parts a bit more gorging in the phrases, instead of trying to “race” the song. We get it, you can play both fast and quite clean, but it doesn’t have to be like that all of the time.
“Forevermore” uses a bit of the template of its predecessor, but manages the Conception effect once more… given that I loved Conception and later Ark, it’s a little weird to have these compatriots offering the best substitute, after all these years and without sounding like a cheap imitation, despite the obvious similarities.
“Break the Core” has some really taste guitar-interplay that introduces it and goes back to that LDK sound coming really close to replicating some stuff that the band even touched upon earlier in the album and with the “harsh” vocals seeming like they ‘re an idea that came after listening to “March...” a few too many times...
“Remedy of My Heart” is probably the band’s most ambitious effort, featuring some quite convincing arrangements by JK and initially giving a lot of space for VG to set up the song, before Drax comes in with a big fat (Greek) riff! OK here Sunburst officially attempts to be the new Kamelot and with a few more arrangement layered on top, it would be actually a direct contestant. The band sort of pulls this song into an almost meaningless length of over twelve minutes, including a multitude of solos as well as another slow part and a bit of an extreme part towards the end… yeah a nice exercise, but possibly the single track on which I liked moments, but didn’t end up liking as a whole, a bit more focus would have benefited this greatly.
I must admit that before even doing this review, I was a little ill-disposed, I thought ‘what the heck’, these two guys again, another band etc… (could be for contractual reasons or not) and it’s not all that dissimilar to Black Fate, evidently… well by the end of listening to this, I was thinking ‘oh STFU Dimi’, if these guys can write and perform this well, they could start up one hundred different projects as far as I’m concerned.
Fans of Conception, Ark and Kamelot with a couple of brave sips of Loom(id)is coffee in a couple of tracks, just go ahead and enjoy. For the rest of you guys, just give em a listen; they manage to combine aggression, technicality and beauty in a very harmonic way. Bravo!
This Panhellenic gathering of talent manages to bring under the same roof two quite different schools. Vasilis has a voice that’s not dissimilar to Roy Khan’s to the point where he was considered for Kamelot and it’s probably something that both comes naturally and is not “forced” as his timbre is not too rough. Now Gus Drax is quite the capable virtuosic player that however seems to enjoy a more modern approach/sound, while in Black Fate another band that featured the two, things were decidedly more Kamelot-like, with even GD playing in a more subdued manner, the somewhat more prog nature and sound of Sunburst, while still retaining the characteristics of power metal allows him to flex more his musical muscle and display the guitar histrionics more amply. On its own, his playing would be impressive, but possibly not too appealing, but with VG on top, it all seems to work from the more modern to the more typical virtuosic tracks.
Grey and Mylonas also are locked in a tight symbiosis rhythmically that no matter how exceptional it might be performance wise, it expectedly sounds rather plastic, since the production is as modern as it could be (mind you almost giving similar ones a run for its money)…
“Out of the World” sounds like someone didn’t have his coffee in the morning and is angry as hell and that his favorite blend is called Papagalos Loom(id)is. Yes, Drax almost could apply to Nevermore after such a display, but at least his solo, despite being plethoric, is not boring and manages to be quite melodious. Georgiou manages to balance the song with his melodious singing.
“Dementia” pretty much continues this hybrid, but allows the song to “breathe” more, keeping the aggression under wraps and often exchanging keys and some melodic guitar parts, this time decidedly more like latter day Kamelot, but with quite a lot of stuff going on lower in the mix.
“Symbol of Life” begins with some blazing saddles, sorry I meant solo with a fair bit of tapping that sounds quite impressive, but progressively gets tamer, despite the quite aggressive riffing, Georgiou manages to be the catalyst that makes it all work, but still I have to say that Drux is quite the excellent soloist, perhaps a bit over the top still, but at least quite tasteful.
“Reincarnation” is probably the only song without additional orchestration in the form of keys or arrangements and has Drax going wild all over it (in mostly a good way) but with some nice harmonies on top courtesy of VG. Drax attempts to set the neck on fire during the solo, which also allows the Mylonas to get out a bit more and be heard, as his very steady playing no matter how important it is sounds (because of the production) not as evident...
“Lullaby” is a really aggressive number (just kidding)… is a frigging ballad that plugs in after the first minute and keeps on going back and forth, between a more acoustic mood and the more electric moments with Drax offering one of his better solos on the album and really managing something almost Conception-like in terms of quality without sounding like they cloned something…
“End of the Game” is pretty much another latter day Kamelot-like track and to be honest, with the US/Norwegians stuck in a bit of a creative rut, I suppose I might say I like these guys as much if not a tad more than the big K.
“Beyond the Darkest Sun” is a quite interesting instrumental with Drax playing some beautiful themes, but I must say that a little too quickly for my tastes, I would not mind losing that grungy bottom end and sustaining some parts a bit more gorging in the phrases, instead of trying to “race” the song. We get it, you can play both fast and quite clean, but it doesn’t have to be like that all of the time.
“Forevermore” uses a bit of the template of its predecessor, but manages the Conception effect once more… given that I loved Conception and later Ark, it’s a little weird to have these compatriots offering the best substitute, after all these years and without sounding like a cheap imitation, despite the obvious similarities.
“Break the Core” has some really taste guitar-interplay that introduces it and goes back to that LDK sound coming really close to replicating some stuff that the band even touched upon earlier in the album and with the “harsh” vocals seeming like they ‘re an idea that came after listening to “March...” a few too many times...
“Remedy of My Heart” is probably the band’s most ambitious effort, featuring some quite convincing arrangements by JK and initially giving a lot of space for VG to set up the song, before Drax comes in with a big fat (Greek) riff! OK here Sunburst officially attempts to be the new Kamelot and with a few more arrangement layered on top, it would be actually a direct contestant. The band sort of pulls this song into an almost meaningless length of over twelve minutes, including a multitude of solos as well as another slow part and a bit of an extreme part towards the end… yeah a nice exercise, but possibly the single track on which I liked moments, but didn’t end up liking as a whole, a bit more focus would have benefited this greatly.
I must admit that before even doing this review, I was a little ill-disposed, I thought ‘what the heck’, these two guys again, another band etc… (could be for contractual reasons or not) and it’s not all that dissimilar to Black Fate, evidently… well by the end of listening to this, I was thinking ‘oh STFU Dimi’, if these guys can write and perform this well, they could start up one hundred different projects as far as I’m concerned.
Fans of Conception, Ark and Kamelot with a couple of brave sips of Loom(id)is coffee in a couple of tracks, just go ahead and enjoy. For the rest of you guys, just give em a listen; they manage to combine aggression, technicality and beauty in a very harmonic way. Bravo!