''Sonrise'' is the debut studio album from the Norwegian Christian metal band

Schaliach Schaliach was a Christian metal band formed by Peter Dalbakk and Ole Børud from Hamar, Norway. Dalbakk served as the band's vocalist, while Børud handled all the instrumentation. The band released one studio album, '' Sonrise'', in 1996 through ...

. It was released in 1996 through Petroleum Records to a mostly positive critical reception. In particular, the guitar work from

Ole Børud Ole Børud (born December 6, 1976) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, producer, and engineer known both for his solo recordings and as a member of the groups Arnold B. Family, Schaliach, Extol, and Fleshkiller. Børud, son of the ...

was praised. In 2005, Momentum Scandinavia re-issued the album with an additional track - "Purple Filter", that originally appeared on a compilation album.

Style and lyrics

The style performed by Schaliach was variously described as

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

death-doom Death-doom is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double kick drumming of death metal. The genre emerged in the late-1980s and gained ...

Gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy met ...

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

, melodic death metal, and progressive metal. The guitar playing by

— likened to a "metal symphony" — is strongly influenced by

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

and was compared to that of

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

as well as

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

Threshold Threshold may refer to: Architecture * Threshold (door), the sill of a door Media * ''Threshold'' (1981 film) * ''Threshold'' (TV series), an American science fiction drama series produced during 2005-2006 * "Threshold" (''Stargate SG-1''), ...

Shadow Gallery :''The Shadow Gallery is also the name of the home of the protagonist in the graphic novel V for Vendetta.'' Shadow Gallery is an American progressive metal band formed in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania during the early 1980s. It was originally ...

, and Teramaze. The instrumental track "Coming of the Dawn" is accompanied by piano and string instruments. The overall sound of the album was described as similar to Amorphis. The lyrics on the album are explicitly Christian, drawing heavily from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and referencing Christ and the love of God for all of humanity. "You Maintain" is written from the perspective of God pleading with an unbeliever, and "A Father's Morning" from the perspective of God speaking to a wayward Christian. Though an instrumental, "In Memoriam" is dedicated to unborn children who were aborted.

Critical reception

''Sonrise'' was received very well by most critics. Alex Cantwell from Chronicles of Chaos described the record as "excellent doom with a distinct Norwegian flavour." '' HM'' writer Matt Morrow in their review of the 2005 re-issue rated the album 90/100 and called the album a "classic". They expressed the opinion that while ''Sonrise'' "may not have been the best the genre has ever seen, but the emotion that a band with a brutally heavy sound and growled vocals could convey was quite impressive." Josh Spencer from ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' rated that album four-and-a-half out of five, calling the duo "astounding!" While they felt that the production value and overall sound was not at the same level as Amorphis's ''Tales From the Thousand Lakes'', it was great enough for them. Shari Lloyd, also of ''The Phantom Tollbooth'', said that they were not disappointed, and they gave the album a four out of five. Lloyd stated that though growled vocals are not usually their style, on ''Sonrise'' they did not mind them since the music was the main focus. ''

Rock Hard "Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdraw ...

'' was far less favorable to the album, rating it 4/10. They considered Schaliach boring and that the sound on the album was muffled and mashed together.

Track listing

Personnel

* Peter Dalbakk - vocals, rhythm guitar on "A Whisper from Heaven" and "Coming of the Dawn" *

- guitar, bass, drums, additional vocals

Additional personnel

* Øyvind Å. Berg - piano,

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

* Schaliach - production * Fred Dalbakk - co-production * Jeff - mastering

References

{{Authority control Schaliach albums 1996 debut albums