SUNLESS - Urraca Review

Sunless - Urraca (Self-released)

Release date : February 24th, 2017

As I am into a lot of things other than reviewing new releases lately, I am still listening to a bunch of the albums that are overcrowding our promo mailbox. February wasn’t the strongest month in new releases and there are few records that will eventually be in my permanent rotation. Sunless and their first full length Urraca might be one of the few acts to be piercing this so-called prestigious rotation of mine. Their use of Dissonant Metal à la Gorguts and Ulcerate is quite something.

To the few loyal readers of this awesome blog it is a fact that I am a big fan of everything from Krallice to Gorguts. The mastering jobs by Colin Marston are one of the things I could take money out of my pocket to actually buy a platter even though I received the proper promo for it. So what makes Urraca interesting then?

It’s the Technical/Dissonant Death Metal that songs like ‘’Obsidian Wing’’ with its galloping drums and off beat guitars or is it the other way around? At some point, just like Dysrhythmia, Sunless could be an instrumental band and the album wouldn’t be less interesting. Formed in 2015, and now releasing Urraca, great things are coming then for us Dissonant Metal enthusiasts. To have this maturity and mastery with only two years in the belly, the trio of Mitch Schooler on the bass, Ben Iburg behing the kit, and Lucas Scott handling both guitar and vocal duties are showing tremendous skills and cohesion. As it may not seem straightforward, this is a cohesive record that works in its unity.

The mastering job is once again heavy, dynamic and sounds organic to my ears. Marston has raised the bar for the mastering job in Extreme Metal and it is a good thing because sometimes it needs new blood to reinvigorate the way records are sounding.

With all that said, I believe that the Ulcerate Shrine Of Paralysis record of 2017 could be Sunless’ Urraca which might be a bold statement or a reducing one depending on your appreciation of one or another but as a convinced Dissonant Metal fan I am pleased with both albums in my permanent rotation.

8.5