As The Sun Sets

Shortly after the release of 7744, the follow-up to their acclaimed Each Individual Voice Is Dead In The Silence debut (Moment of Clarity/Trashart), and after harvesting an extreme amount of notoriety for their oft-violent and insane live show, As The Sun Sets simply and unexpectedly imploded. Not the group’s suicide note, as a posthumous 8949 EP on Trashart will fulfil that role, 7744 is a stunning release of panicked music and (barely) controlled chaos, but it also contains glimpses of the fractures that led to As The Sun Sets’ disintegration. Electronic swells and squalls are inter-cut with incredibly complex grind/noisecore runs and split second metallic breaks while discordant feedback and uncountable riffs rush by in a spastic blur of aggression that’s more complicated than core. However, while the playing and constant discarding of riffs and runs are almost beyond comprehension in their execution and erosion, the electronic pieces and melodic compositions only serve to disjoint 7744, instead of giving listeners a moment to recover from the abuse; that it lacks the seamless thread necessary to pull off divergent sounds was undoubtedly a reflection of the opposing wills within the band itself. In the end, it’s as if As The Sun Sets set out to break the envelope of chaotic construction, succeeded and had no recourse but to give it all up, no matter how brilliant the results.