Metal Mind Productions are renowned for releasing well thought out and packaged reissues of some of metal’s greatest (and occasionally overlooked) moments. Here we have a repackaged and expanded version of Sorrow’s first (and tragically only) full length release alongside tracks from the long out of print ‘Forgotten sunrise’ EP in a limited edition (2000 copies worldwide) digi pack and pressed onto a suitably appealing gold CD for the best possible quality.
Starting out life as a thrash band in the mid eighties, the New York based Sorrow rapidly tired of what was already a fairly formulaic scene and after a swift name change (they were originally named Apparition) they released the ‘Forgotten Sunrise’ EP in 1991 but it was with ‘Hatred and disgust’ that they really hit paydirt. A dark, thrash infused trip into the harrowing realms of deathly doom the album comes across as a traumatic mix of Slayer and My dying bride with a hint of (fellow Roadrunner artist) Obituary thrown in for good measure. As a result the first track, ‘insatiable’, comes across rather like Metallica jamming on Paradise Lost’s ‘Gothic’ album with John Tardy on vocals. It’s a swampy, slowed-down, malicious sound the band create, but with interesting thrash elements which vary the tempo and stop the album from becoming so remorselessly bleak as to render it unlistenable. ‘Forced repression’ opens with some abstract bass noodling before moving into darkly claustrophobic territory via uncomfortable tempo changes and masterful drumming courtesy of Mike Hymson who turns in a tight and restrained performance throughout. Recalling My Dying Bride classics such as ‘the forever people’, this is an uncomfortable yet heavy ride that rides roughshod over the listener’s expectations changing tack every time you think you have the band figured out. ‘Illusion of freedom’ is a shorter track compared to its almost seven minute cousins, but the brevity does not make it any easier to handle with the icy, chugging riffs backing up Andy Marchione’s gruff bark.
‘Human error’ opens with a funereal solo that introduces the track and recalls the stately solemnity of Candlemass before taking a turn for the disturbing with a sweet chugging riff and none-more-brutal vocals. It’s a slowed down trawl through hell which still doesn’t prepare you for the ten minute epic that is ‘Unjustified reluctance’ – a relentless, psychotic death trip that makes it all the more distressing that this obscenely talented band never made it past their debut record. ‘Unjustified reluctance’ concludes, and satisfyingly, the main body of the album leaving the four tracks of the EP to make up the numbers. Following on from the lengthy previous track, ‘Awaiting the saviour’ is as brutal as they come. Almost pure death metal, it’s a pummelling, pounding number with a brighter production sound that causes it to leap from the speakers like a thing possessed. ‘Eternally forgotten’, the next track, is similarly enraged – a gargantuan slab of brutality leaving you once again mourning the fact that this band never released anything else. ‘Curse the sunrise’ is more representative of the album, coming across like a slowed-down version of Slayer’s ‘Diabolous in musica’ with its deeply unpleasant central riff and guttural howl. The final track ‘A wasted cry for hope’ closes the album on another lengthy, enervating number that sits somewhere between Black Sabbath, cathedral and Paradise lost.
For your money, then, you get the complete, criminally brief works of a band who had so much to offer to the fledgling doom scene. The album holds together remarkably well with the first two tracks of the EP only sounding notably faster and more youthful than the rest of the tracks on offer. Like my dying bride, Sorrow grasped the fact that varied dynamics are key to making a successful record and so the treacle thick numbers are balanced by some brutally heavy riffing and occasionally bursts of speed that keeps the album moving in the right direction. Beautifully packaged by genuine fans of the music, this reissue is both value for money and a worthy purchase for any doom fan out of there in need of a fix of brutal, heavy misery. A true, overlooked gem – check it out while you can.
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