Black Sun Empire are a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

group that formed in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

, Netherlands in 1997 by producers Rene Verdult and brothers Micha and Milan Heyboer. The group has received much praise from critics, even being referred to as "the kings of all things neuro". Since their inception, the group has released five full-length albums and have operated three independent record labels: Black Sun Empire Recordings, Obsessions, and Blackout Music NL.

History

Rene, Milan, and Micha all knew each other since they were children and the trio were first exposed to

jungle music Jungle is a genre of dance music that developed out of the UK rave scene and sound system culture in the 1990s. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples, and ...

as teens in the mid-1990s. The trio began to produce music together in 1993 and began producing music under the name Black Sun Empire (a reference to

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

) in 1997. In 1999, the trio issued their debut 12" single "Voltage/Skin Deep" through Piruh Records. More singles and

splits A split (commonly referred to as splits or the splits) is a physical position in which the legs are in line with each other and extended in opposite directions. Splits are commonly performed in various athletic activities, including dance, figu ...

would be released the following four years, some of which were released through the group's self operated Black Sun Empire Recordings, which was set up in 2002. In 2004, the group released their first full-length studio album ''Driving Insane'', which contained the track "Arrakis", which would later be featured in the trailer for

EVE Online ''Eve Online'' (stylised ''EVE Online'') is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of ''Eve Online'' can participate in a number of in-game profess ...

. Their next album, ''Cruel and Unusual'' followed in 2005. That same year, the group created the sub-label Obsessions. In 2007, the group's third album ''Endangered Species'' was released. The group's fourth album ''Lights and Wires'' was issued in 2010 and featured

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

influences. Their fifth album ''From the Shadows'' was released in 2012 and met both critical and commercial success, even earning a spot on

Beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be used ...

's Top 5 Best Selling Albums of 2012. To support the album, the group underwent a world tour and performed in places such as

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In 2013, the group established a third record label, Blackout Music NL. The group also began to host Blackout festival events, the second event in particular taking place in London. By 2015, the Blackout festivals spread to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, with the first Los Angeles festival being held in June 2015. In 2015, Milan Heyboer mentioned that the group were in the process of producing more material. In November 2016, the group premiered the new track "Caterpillar", featuring

Virus Syndicate Virus Syndicate are a British grime collective from Manchester, centred on JSD and Nika D. They are known for their fusion of dubstep with grime, and have been lauded by ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "some of the tautest British MC-ing since th ...

. The track is featured on the group's latest album ''The Wrong Room'', released on 31 March 2017.

Style

The group is commonly seen as

neurofunk Neurofunk (also known informally as neuro) is a dark subgenre of drum and bass which emerged between 1997 and 1998 in London, England as a progression of techstep. It was further developed by juxtaposing elements of darker, heavier, and harder ...

, and have also been called

techstep Techstep is a dark subgenre of drum and bass that was created in the mid-1990s. Style It is characterized by a dark, sci-fi mood, near-exclusive use of synthesised or sampled sound sources, 2-step kicks and snares and influences from industrial ...

, and

in the past. Rene Verdult has mentioned that programs such as Cubase 6.5, Vember Audio Surge, and u-He Zebra have been used by the group to produce tracks in the past. Typically, individual members of the group experiment and produce their own tracks, and collaboration between group members usually only occur to give and receive advice. Milan Heyboer described the group's way of production as improvisation. The group has gone on to state artists such as Ed Rush & Optical,

Konflict Konflict, also known under their separate artist names ''Kemal'' and ''Rob Data'', were a musical duo that composed drum and bass music, consisting of Kemal Okan and Robert Rodgers. Their music had a strong techno influence, and it was influenti ...

, Stakka & Skynet, and

Bad Company Bad Company are an English rock supergroup that was formed in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell.Bad Company ''AllMusic'' Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, also ...

as major influences. All

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

editions of their full-length albums include a second disc containing an hour-long continuous mix as a bonus.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

Driving Insane Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and bicycles. Permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met and drivers are required to fol ...

'' (2004, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * '' Cruel and Unusual'' (2005, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * ''

Endangered Species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

'' (2007, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * ''

Lights and Wires Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision. Light or Lights may also refer to: Illumination * Light bulb * Traffic light Arts and entertainment Music * Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian singer-son ...

'' (2010, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * '' From the Shadows'' (2012, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * ''

The Wrong Room ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (2017, Blackout Music NL)

Extended plays

* ''From the Shadows (Remix EP)'' (2013, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * ''Hideous Remixes'' with Noisia (2014, Blackout Music NL) * ''Until the World Ends'' with State of Mind (2015, Blackout Music NL) * ''The Violent Five'' with State of Mind (2016, Blackout Music NL) * ''Mud EP'' (2020, Blackout Music NL)

Compilation albums

* ''The Piruh Years'' (2002, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * ''The Early Years'' (2002, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * ''BSE Miscellaneous Tunes'' (2003, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * ''Variations On Black'' (2013, Blackout Music NL)

Singles

* "Voltage / Skin Deep" (1999, Piruh Records) * "The Silent / Bombrun" (2001, Piruh Records) * "The Rat / B'Negative" (2002, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * "Vessel / Fragment" (2002, A New Dawn Recordings) * "Smoke" (2002, DSCI4 Records) * "Firing Squad (SKC Remix)" (2008, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * "Hyper Sun / Cold Crysis" (2009, Shadows of the Empire) * "The Invasion / Dyneema" (2009, Shadows of the Empire) * "Lights And Wires" (2010, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * "Reboot The System (Part 1) (2010, Project 51 Records) * "Until The World Ends" (with State of Mind, 2015, Blackout Music NL) * "Caterpillar" (with State of Mind, 2016, Blackout Music NL) * "The Violent Five" (with Prolix, 2016, Blackout Music NL) * "The Message" (with Prolix, 2018, Blackout Music NL) * "Surge Engine / Ripsaw" (2018, RAM Records)

Splits

* "The Sun" (2002, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * ''Spy Technologies'' split 12" with Sinthetix (2002, DSCI4) * split 12" with Rascal & Klone (2003, Transparent Recordings) * split 12" with Eye-D (2003, Citrus Recordings) * split 12" with Benjie (2003, Black Sun Empire) * split 12" with Ill.Skillz (2004, Ill.Skillz Recordings) * split 12" with Skynet (2004, Black Sun Empire) * split 12" with Noisia, Mayhem, Pacific and Kemal (2005, Obsessions) * ''Cruel and Unusual'' split 12" with Dance4Life (2005, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * split 12" with Corrupted Souls & Hyx (2006, Obsessions) * split 12" with Mindscape & Jade (2006, Obsessions) * split 12" with Dom & Vicious Circle (2007, Dom & Roland Productions) * split 12" with Cooh (2007, Obsessions) * split 12" with JPS & Hooves (2007, Obsessions) * split 12" with Concord Dawn (2008, Uprising Records) * split 12" with Dkay & Trei (2008, Obsessions) * split 12" with State of Mind (2008, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * split 12" with Eye-D (2009, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * split 12" with N.Phect (2009, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * ''Reboot the System (Part 1)'' split 12" with Gridlock (2010, Project 51) * split 12" with State of Mind (2011, SOM Music) * split 12" with Counterstrike, Alvin Rish & Bulletproof (2011, Black Sun Empire Recordings) * split 12" with Crushington (2011, Shadows of the Empire) * split 12" with Jade & Mindscape (2012, Citrus Recordings) * split 12" with State of Mind, Bulletproof, Gridlok & Concord Dawn (2012, SOM Music)

References

External links

Official website

Black Sun Empire Discogs
{{Authority control Dutch electronic music groups Dutch drum and bass musicians Dutch DJs Drum and bass music groups Dubstep music groups