Winter is the worst time of year. Christmas falls at its halfway point, a celebration of its ending, almost as though we’re saying “Thank god, the light is returning.” Things are different in Finland. Toward the arctic circle, the sun is shrouded by the horizon. For fifty days a year, the country is lost in the deep, unending darkness of winter. The sun never rises. This is the place Atlas call home. ‘Sunder’ is their third album, one bathed in this atmosphere. It captures the dark, the torment of existing within it and explores how a massive guitar riff might just save you.
Using the opening track ‘Sermon Of The Dying Light’, they quickly establish the tone of what will follow; layering on that atmosphere bringing to mind the setting sun, the creeping sense of dread, the night stretching over the landscape. It’s a short but effective way of drawing you in. Then the riffs are unleashed. Like its name suggests, ‘Tower’ is a massive, imposing achievement. Perhaps the album’s most…
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