Black Sun – Silent Enemy

Black Sun
Silent Enemy
Rockshots Records
September 4, 2020
21:37

To record an album or an EP like here without a permanent singer is certainly not easy. But exactly this problem faced Black Sun from Ecuador. During production, the band split from their longtime singer. But they had an inventive producer in Nino Laurenne. Thanks to his contacts, “Silent Enemy” could be recorded completely with guest singers. And they have a good name in the metal world, Tony Kakko, Mr. Lordi, Noora Louhimo or Henning Basse, to name just a few. So it goes without saying that I listened to this EP with great interest.

The psychedelic sound gimmicks of the opener “Moebius” can actually assume the worst. But don’t worry, “Silent Enemy” is not a pop or trance record. It has just one of the worst intros I’ve ever heard. But even with “Resist” things are really going. A great rock anthem topped off by the voice of Netta Laurenne (Smackbound). You can sing along to the chorus from the start. And Christopher Gruenberg impresses with a terrific guitar solo. Also, on “Terror Zone” you can hear a big one with Firewind singer Henning Basse. Accompanied by banging metal riffs. With “Dark Mirror” the trio got support on the guitars on board. JF Aguirre (JF Aguirre Project) and Petri Lindroos (Ensiferum, Norther) are responsible for the solos. A straightforward instrumental rocker. The following is a dispensable 50 seconds short interlude ( “No Return”). “Still Alive” brought up an illustrious crowd of guest musicians: Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica), Pasi Rantanen (Thunderstone), Noora Louhimo (Battle Beast), Asim Searah (Wintersun, Damnation Plan), Mr. Lordi, Netta Laurenne, Jukka Pelkonen (Omnium Gatherum) and Elias Viljanen (Sonata Arctica). And these top-class musicians make the melodic metal song the absolute highlight of the EP. The outro “Finale” is at least better than the intro and interlude, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be on an EP either.

Four rock and metal songs, but also almost five minutes of gap filler, face each other on this EP. The bottom line is that the positive prevails. The four “real” songs are just huge. Here the Ecuadorians show their great skills in songwriting, arrangement and musicality. It remains to be seen how their songs sound with a steady singer and without the multitude of guest musicians. We can certainly look forward to a future album

BLACK SUN – Terror Zone feat. Henning Basse: https://youtu.be/jEAh4MAzVus

Lineup:

Christopher Gruenberg – Guitar
Santiago Salem – Bass
Nicolás Estrada – Drums

Track list:

• Moebius
• Resist
• Terror Zone
• Dark Mirror
• No Return
• Still Alive
• Finale