Sunrot is my favorite local-ish band, which I think is saying quite a lot in a place like this. The New York City (slash Brooklyn, slash Queens, slash North Jersey) heavy music scene is awash in talent, ambition, and weird noises, but in my somewhat humble opinion, Sunrot is sitting pretty at the top of the heap. They're about to release their debut full-length, Sunnata, late tonight (in order to funnel all first-day sales to Bandcamp's Transgender Law Center donation drive) and we're streaming it below because one of the perks (really, the biggest perk) of doing this job is being able to share rare gems like this one with a broad audience.
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It's not just that Sunrot sounds different, or that they radiate joy whenever they play, or that the band is predominantly made up of people who operate outside the straight white cis male spectrum. That's all part of their allure, but really, the fact that this band has more goddamn heart than anyone else is what truly sets them apart. While it's true that the scales have tipped towards black metal, death metal, and gothier pursuits over the past few years, doom metal and its various slimy subgenres still have a firm foothold in our toxic soil, though our sludge reserves have dipped perilously low in recent memory. Sunrot treads heavily at the crux between multiple ugly, noisy genres; their sludgy, industrial clamor borrows liberally from harsh noise and hateful drone, but makes plenty of space for riffs—lumbering, distorted things that pound away at your eardrums like storm waves on a vanishing coastline—and vocalist Lex's emotional, pushed-to-the-edge howls.Guitarist Chris Eustaquio told Noisey, "Sunnata is a cumulation of ideas we've been chiseling away at for the better part of a year. Failed relationships, internal mental struggles, daily annoyances, grief, and the blatant corruption in our societal system are all to blame for this release. This is the light at the end of an unnecessary long and dark tunnel. Total Neurosis worship. All songs were recorded in a burning space station."
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Listen below, and be sure to catch Sunrot next time they pop up in your town. They're hitting the road with Philly's God Root this week—and if you can believe it after hearing this recording, they're even better live.
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