sunset afire - even

Sunset Afire

Event Horizon
self-released; 2013

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Sunset Afire is a hard rock band from Brooklyn, NY that just released a three-song EP entitled event horizon. This three-piece band has been playing together since 2008 and initially released Travel Journey, a seven-song LP and then followed it up with an album of acoustic material in 2010. Their latest EP event horizon is only about 12 minutes long but they cram a lot in and it may serve well as a foundation for an upcoming full length. 

The production is decent. The guitars were a bit thin with too much high end at points and I would have liked to hear more separation between the bass and bass drum. I also felt the vocals could have been treated better to fit into the music. 

The EP opens with a solid song entitled “Revision,” which begins with no warning. Crashing drums, bass and distorted come at you all at once before stopping on a dime and then starting up again. The clean guitar picking was inventive and the vocalist sounded stoic and reminded me a bit of Ian Curtis from Joy Division. Perhaps the most unusual part of the song is the part when the vocalist overlays demon-like vocal overdubs on top of the normal lead. He sings “Move on don’t look back. No more revisions. Behind every story is the second truth.”

“Roses & Dreamers” is a first  half experimental pop that works. Half way through the pile on the distortion which could have been effective except the production holds it back. It ends up sounding  harsh rather than explosive. 

“Arms of Time” was the highlight of the EP. The cascading guitars line and bass work climb scales and make for an effective verse. By the end of the song they are rocking out as hard as they can and it leaves a good impression. 

Sunset Fire have produced a solid EP with decent songs but it could use some improvements with the sound quality of the songs. I'm looking to forward to a their next full length.

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