Review: Sharzall “Black Sun”

Sharzall “Black Sun”
NRT-Records

Slovakia isn’t huge country, but as I remember there were always quite good and prolific music scene. One of newest proof on this is SHARZALL. Unfortunately I have no idea what’s their home-city, but there’s surely something interesting except the band. Besides it doesn’t matter to much coz for us the most important was, is and will always be music! So, I’ ending talk about odds and sods and let’s go!

SHARZALL was founded October the 1^st 2014 and ‘Black Sun’ is not only their debut album, but also the first release of the band ever. I know, I know… It took them more then almost two and an half year to put this stuff on Bandcamp. But it doesn’t mean that it was time of twiddling their thumbs coz they played gigs and, of course, created music. Besides, sometimes it’s better to wait little longer with showing effect of your creativity to the world. Anyways, just reviewing full-length contains intro (which calls “Prologue” here) and ten compositions. Guy in their rather short bio write that they mix Gothic Metal, Dark Rock and Postpunk. Well, personally I’d fuse these two first terms in Gothic Rock. Especially that, maybe unfortunately, in my orthodox mind there’s no place for something like Gothic Metal, by the way. But with these elements of Postpunk I can definitely agree. They’re the best hearable in what and how Liviticus plays sometimes. The best example here is in my opinion “Love is on the Ground” and “Serenades From Perdition” which, it seems, is bonus here. Some riffs in other songs also deal with this kind of music. Otherwise both guitar, drums and vocal can be connoted with Gothic in its primary (and the only right, I think) meaning. I can very easily hear influences of some extremely well-known band founded in 1980 by Andrew Eldritch and Garry Marx in Leeds – even if not all (three) albums of this band can be connoted with Gothic. But instead of this band we have here living drummer – D who beats variously. I hear some echos of other genre´s forerunners. Very important role here play keyboard, anyway. We have also some solos and melody created both by guitar and keyboard. This is of course specific melody in vein of… Maybe in some way of THE CURE. Vocal definitely deal with music like that, but isn´t monotonous and in some way is melodic, too.

Honestly music like that was never my cup of beer. I can listen to this from time to time, but… Anyway, I think that for lovers of such creativity this album can be some revelation.