Sun of the Endless Night – Symbols of Hate and Deceitful Faith (Punishment 18 Records)

Sunday, 22nd December 2019
Rating: 8/10

Containing members of various metalcore, crossover, and thrash acts as Stampin’ Ground, Anihilated, and Murder One among others – Sun of the Endless Night come together to keep the pulse of UK thrash on point for Symbols of Hate and Deceitful Faith. Considering these are turbulent times once again on a political and social level for most of the world, the quintet choose to spit venom at organized religion and mass media who seem content to manipulate the weak-minded instead of allowing individuals to form their own thoughts and assess situations with critical thinking. As these eight songs whirl through your brain space, you’ll process material that has a lot of twin melodic textures wrapped around a sonic assault that has the menace and tenacity of Onslaught, Dark Angel, and Vio-lence among others.

Intertwining the blitzkrieg of rhythms and solid jackhammer tempos with segments of narrative themes and sound clips that go hand in hand with the content, Sun of the Endless Night progress naturally to a potent brand of thrash that was part of that second wave – taking the musicianship skill up a few notches while not sacrificing the angst and punk-fueled aesthetics that make the style perfect for stage diving and pit churning proclivities. It’s hard not to get caught up in the riff swirl and verbal tirades within “When Hell Exhales” and the whirlwind picking and thunderous bass for “Where Is Your God” – two tracks that go for the jugular to wrench every measure of madness out of your system. The drum tone throughout can be very overpowering – especially the triggered kick aspects – but it doesn’t whitewash the obvious killer mechanics and tempo juggling abilities of Colin Baker, as “The Duality of Man” and the dynamic speed to sophisticated groove-oriented “Are We the Dead” illustrate. As a singer, Si Cobb has that extra level of personality through spunk, knowing when to go full throttle or lay back and add extra emphasis on certain words or lines to make “Knee Deep in Devils” and the lurking, slow-churning closer “The Hate of Things to Come” sure-fire winners, drawing comparisons to Tom Araya, Sy Keeler, and a touch of Paul Baloff.

Keeping the proceedings at a very economical 34-minutes and change, Symbols of Hate and Deceitful Faith should put Sun of the Endless Night on the map as proof that the thrash revival has a permanent place in metal’s importance – and won’t be fading into the background anytime soon.

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