Ember Sun Takes Us on a Journey Through Pain & Self-Discovery in New Record
~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~
By Billy Goate
Meet EMBER SUN the new project from Lorthar, one of the original members of the Athens occultic black metal band Order Of The Ebon Hand. Later this month, he's dropping the full-length solo effort, 'Of Earth And Heaven' (2021) via Aural Music/Code666.
Harmonic rumbling surrounds our senses as the album opens, giving way to a slow rhythm that somehow reminds me of the slave galley powering some ancient sea-faring vessel into the chaotic waves of war, steadily slogging along in rowing movement to the task-master's slavish beat. There's not a spike of adrenaline in sight, for this is a reluctant battle we face -- not of swords against shields or javelins tearing through flesh, but the struggle with sorrow. And we are spent.
"Swallowed Back Into My Sorrow" implies by title alone that we've faced this enemy before, won some battles, lost too many to remember. Now we can feel the dread of those gray, low-hanging clouds gathering oppressively around us. The mood the song strikes is not one of abject despair, however, but stoic contemplation. We've learned to grow comfortable in the fog of uncertainty and confusion these last two years. Perhaps it's impossible to envision better days from this vantage point. Maybe the point is to endure until the fog lifts. But will it ever?
"Respawn" is up next, striking a slightly more upbeat stride than its predecessor. In fact, it's almost hypnotic. The atmosphere is charged with an uneasiness as we wander deeper into the mist looking for signs that mark some discernible path -- closer to this Ember Sun.
This leads into "On Earth And Heaven," which surrounds us in a comforting blanket of grief. In last year's excellent miniseries The Third Day, a confused Jude Law is consoled by Emily Watson. "Pain doesn't know time," see says, adding: "Most people are scared of pain. They don't know how warm it can be." As a long time depressive, I can vouch for that fact. It's not a place I want to be in, but when I am sad it feels familiar to me. Maybe that strange solace comes through radical acceptance of the situation (as opposed to wishful thinking that it will somehow change on its own) and this has a way of dampening the "fight or flight" alarm so it isn't constantly blaring at me and I can think rationally about where we stand. Then, seeing the situation for what it really is, I can quietly plot the next best step forward. As the song comes to a close, the drums pound out those steps so clearly. It's an all-uphill climb, but that's precisely the hill we have to scale to see what's on the other side, where maybe, just maybe, there is hope.
"Ember Heart Of Me" is significantly sadder, a funeral march with Gothic and esoteric touches. It also boasts one of the album's grandest choruses, perhaps our first sun-break of the journey so far. Anger sometimes has a way of clearing the fog and here Lorthar vows, "I'll haunt you in your dreams." The synth fingers out a familiar arpeggiated pattern, followed by an outpouring of singing guitar expression and an aggressive battering of the percussion. The sun is rising, the mist dissipating, the path becoming more discernible.
"The Chapel" is the penultimate track and, like the opening salvo, the hum of reverberating sound seems all-encompassing. The thud of the drums marks out this place as significant. Have we been here before? It feels so familiar. A place of absolute transcendency, where one can experience the death of ego, followed by a certain clarity of vision we didn't have previously. This isn't a place of feeble worship and quiet solitude, but a space that invades our senses. And the raven's caw beckons...
The ten-minute-plus album closer feels positively sanguine by the time we reach it, with melodic highs and lows acting like a series of heavy sighs. Nothing is scarier than thinking about one's death, until you come to peaceful acceptance of your own transient mortality. Who knows what, if any, existence we will have beyond this one (consciously or not), however your philosophy rationalizes it. Painting in lush, deeply affective tones, the singer embraces the mystery of life, sure of one thing: "My Essense Fades In Time."
Today, Doomed & Stoned gives you a first listen to the album single, "Ember Heart of Me." A song which Lorthar depicts as "our inner consciousness that never fades, never goes away" -- adding that "even if the fire can't be seen, it still burns." The composer continues:
This track was challenging to record with 3 different types of vocals to mix and layer one over the other.
The 1st voice represents our living body.
The 2nd voice represents our fear.
The 3rd voice represents our subconsciousness.
Together, these 3 voices embody our selves. These 3 voices exist within you, within me, within everyone.
On Earth And Heaven by Ember Sun releases October 22nd via Code666/Aural Music in digital, compact disc, and vinyl formats (pre-order here).
on Earth and Heaven by Ember Sun
Some Buzz
Ember Sun is releasing their new album, titled On Earth and Heaven, on October 22 via code666, the cult sublabel of Aural Music.
The band commented about the signing:
"When code666 contacted me and proposed to release my debut album, it was like I was dreaming that such a label wanted to join their roster. It’s a blessing to us that this respected label believed in us. Now Ember Sun are ready to uncover the deep, primordial feelings of sorrow, sinisterness, and solitude under the banner of Code666"
Ember Sun is the new solo project born in 2021 of Lorthar (founder/ex-member of black metal band Order Of The Ebon Hand) from Greece, playing atmospheric funeral doom death with influences of gothic scene. Lorthar has been and still is a member of several bands in the metal music scene and also on ambient style bands. Ember Sun is a mix of all the music styles haunting Lorthar's temperament.
'On Earth And Heaven' is a hymn of solitude and sorrow. It expresses the fear of reaching our end; the despair of not seeing again all those we loved or hated; the incomprehensibility of being devoid consciousness; the sorrow of never seeing the dawn again.
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