Enter the exhilarating, black metal world of Sun Of The Sleepless

Features
By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Empyrium/The Vision Bleak's Schwadorf unveils an enthralling new track from his debut Sun Of The Sleepless album, To The Elements

Son Of The Sleepless promo pic 2017

Formed in 1998 as the the black metal solo project of Empyrium and The Vision Bleak multi-instrumentalist Schwadorf – and with a string of EPs since – Sun Of Sleepless is finally about to release a debut album, To The Elements, via Prophecy Productions on July 21.

Steeped in the history of black metal, To The Elements hits such a resonant, threshold-seeking current that the distinctions between retro, contemporary and progressive merge into a single, exhilarating continuum. We have a special preview in the form of the eight-minute epic, Where In My Childhood Lived A Witch, a track whose icy atmospheres instigate a sonic storm, journeying from stomping grooves through charged riffs and solemn chants through mantric, sense-ravishing riffs like a wave of ecstasy crashing over fans of everyone from Trelldom through to Winterfylleth.

“This is a very special song to me with a bizarre, otherwordly and dreamlike, yet old-school black metal atmosphere,” says Schwadorf. “It’s a hymn to fantasy, to the world and it’s magic, beauty and horrors perceived through the eyes of child. Beside being very inspired by the atmosphere of the TV Series, Stranger Things, it is directly inspired by my childhood and a place that always send shivers down my spine when I was a kid. Musically it draws inspiration from very old Tiamat, Celtic Frost, Burzum and also Rotting Christ. It’s kind of old-school but at the same time it is not at all – which is something I really wanted to achieve with the whole album.”

Strap yourself in and rediscover your capacity for wonder with Where In My Childhood Lived A Witch below!

Follow Sun Of The Sleepless on Facebook and pre-order To The Elements now.

Jonathan Selzer
Jonathan Selzer

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.