At Sunrise - Sapphires [EP]
 

Bournemouth Metal lads At Sunrise grace us with their debut mini-album, "Sapphires," which features 7 tracks of metal and hardcore stylings with a few chilled out moments thrown in there for good measure. I would place the sound quite simply as a more modern, technical version of what the Lost Prophets were doing when they first started out, but with more screams. And I’m saying that as a good thing. "The Fake Sound Of Progress" was a great album and featured some great tracks. Not to put off Lost Prophets haters because I think At Sunrise have a lot more going for them in the metal scene and are also moving in a completely different direction.

I would also liken them to Reading tech metal boys The Arusha Accord, but not quite as technical. As you can see, all the likenesses are to British bands. That is because At Sunrise sound like a British band and not a fabrication of the typical US metalcore sound. The guitars move between chugging metalcore riffs to more progressive harmony riffs, with weird feels. They also have a feel clean chilled out riffs, which I like a lot. The guitars aren’t heavily detuned, either, which gives them more clarity.

At Sunrise have a lot going for them and Sapphires is a great example of what they can do. It’s not perfect and they won’t become an instant success but with time and development they have the workings of becoming a really good band. The musicianship is of a high standard. The vocals are good but maybe need a bit of tightening up around the edges, which is also partly a production element. The song writing is good with some great riffs in parts; it just needs to be a little more consistent throughout. All in all "Sapphires" was an enjoyable listen.