Night Sun were a German

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

/ heavy metal band consisting of Bruno Schaab (vocals, bass), Walter Kirchgessner (guitar), Knut Rossler (organ, saxophon) and Ulrich Staudt (drums). Their one and only album, '' Mournin''', was released in 1972 on Polydor's Zebra label. Kirchgessner's compositions and way of guitar playing reminds of Deep Purples's Ritchie Blackmore, and Schaab's vocals recalled the screams of Robert Plant from

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

. The group played an early form of metal and hard rock, characterized by a "heavy progressive" instrumentation of lead guitar, organ, bass and drums. The album was produced by

Konrad Plank Konrad "Conny" Plank (3 May 1940 – 5 December 1987) was a German record producer and musician. He is known for his innovative work as a sound engineer and producer in Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scene in the 1970s. Plank was invol ...

(whose production credits include Kraftwerk's early output and

Ash Ra Tempel Ash Ra Tempel was a West German krautrock group led by guitarist Manuel Göttsching that was active from 1970 to 1976. Their debut album ''Ash Ra Tempel'' was released in 1971. Following the band's demise, Göttsching released music under the name ...

) at the Windrose Studio, Hamburg. With their sudden shifts of rhythm structures, guitar-with-organ riffing style and some studio effects, particularly phasing, Night Sun never went too close to the ordinary boogie and rock'n'roll trap. Their sound consisted of many elements, all of which will be of interest to fans of

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, Stoner,

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and

Prog Metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...

, and their 1970s roots.

History

Night Sun's origins lay in the late 1960s jazz band

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who were popular in the

Rhine Neckar Area The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar, ), often referred to as Rhein-Neckar-Triangle, is a polycentric metropolitan region located in south western Germany, between the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region to the North ...

of Germany. Night Sun Mournin' soon shortened their name to just Night Sun, during which time they went through various line-up changes until their 1972 recording of the '' Mournin''' LP. Night Sun had only moderate local success and after the leaving of Kirchgessner in 1972, the band split up in 1973. After the demise of the group, Bruno Schaab briefly joined

Guru Guru Guru Guru is a German krautrock band formed in 1968 as The Guru Guru Groove by Mani Neumeier (drums), Uli Trepte (bass) and Eddy Naegeli (guitar), later replaced by the American Jim Kennedy. After Kennedy collapsed on stage due to a serious illn ...

, where his contribution was notable on the track, "

The Story Of Life Josephine Lorraine Malach (March 23, 1933 – March 3, 2003) was a Canadian ceramic artist, ceramic muralist and painter. Personal history She was born at Regina, Saskatchewan in 1933, the only child of Stan and Beth Malach. She was educated at Sac ...

". Walter Kirchgessner later switched over to playing classical music (cello) in different symphony orchestras and string quartets.

Discography

They released only one LP. *1972 - '' Mournin''' - Label: Zebra 2949 004 ''Songs / Tracks Listing'' 1. Plastic Shotgun (2:34) 2. Crazy Woman (4:22) 3. Got A Bone Of My Own (7:45) 4. Slush Pan Man (4:25) 5. Living With The Dying (5:31) 6. Come Down (5:48) 7. Blind (4:24) 8. Nightmare (3:16) 9. Don't Start Flying (3:07) Total Time: 41:12 The LP was re-issued on CD

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in 1997 by Second Battle SB 041

External links

Night Sun reviews at Prog Archives
* Kin Ping Meh discog at Allmusic.com {{Authority control Musical groups established in 1970 Musical groups disestablished in 1973 German progressive rock groups German heavy metal musical groups Krautrock musical groups