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Sunless
Studio album by
PSOTY
Released13 September 2019 (2019-09-13)
Recorded25 February 2019 (2019-02-25) – March 2019 (2019-03)
StudioBandit Studios, Cotswold, Gloucestershire, England
Genre
Length55:27
Label
ProducerJonny Renshaw
PSOTY chronology
Fragments of Uniforms
(2013) 		Sunless
(2019)
Singles from Sunless
  1. "Oil Blood"
    Released: 26 July 2019 (2019-07-26)
  2. "King of Ephyra"
    Released: 6 September 2019 (2019-09-06)

Sunless is the second full-length album by English post-metal/post-rock band PSOTY. It was co-released by Candlelight Records, Spinefarm Records, and Universal Music Group on 13 September 2019, on compact disc, double 12-inch vinyl, and digitally. The album features the singles "Oil Blood", which was released on 26 July 2019,[7][4] and "King of Ephyra", which was released a week ahead of the album on 6 September 2019.[8][9]

The album was written and recorded with guitarist and vocalist Scott Gowan, bass guitarist Steve McKenna, drummer Dale Vinten, and guitarist Adrian Lawson. Sunless was tracked during February and March 2019, with producer Jonny Renshaw at Bandit Studios, where the band had also recorded its debut full-length, Fragments of Uniforms, six years prior.

It is the band's first release under its abbreviated name, PSOTY, as it was officially shortened from Pet Slimmers of the Year in August 2014. It is also the band's first release as a four-piece, as second guitarist Adrian Lawson joined the line-up in October 2016.

Due to its members living in various countries of Europe at the time of the album's release (and during its composition), and with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic shortly afterward, PSOTY was unable to tour and only played a single concert to promote Sunless. The album-release show was held at the Nambucca in London on 7 December 2019; as of 2024, it remains the band's most recent live event.[10][11][12]

Background

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Writing and recording

[edit]

Following the re-release of the band's debut full-length album, Fragments of Uniforms, via English record label Candlelight Records in April 2014, Pet Slimmers of the Year slowly began composing new material for its follow-up release.[13] In August 2014, the band's name was shortened to the acronym PSOTY, as the group felt it had outgrown its comical origin.[14]

PSOTY performing at the 9 Years of Chaos Festival at Electrowerkz in London, England on 2 February 2019. From left to right: Dale Vinten, Steve McKenna, and Adrian Lawson.

In January 2016, the band joined the Finnish record label Spinefarm Records and the Dutch-American corporation Universal Music Group roster,[15] when Candlelight Records' assets were purchased by Spinefarm Music Group.[16][17] That same month, PSOTY announced that it was working on a new extended play, which it hoped to release before the end of the year.[14] However, Candlelight Records and Spinefarm Records insisted that the band instead focus on writing another full-length album.[14] The band later said of the song "Oil Blood": "This was the first track we wrote for this record. We originally demoed this in 2016 and, once we’d got the vocals in place, we felt that this had to be the opening track for the record. Little did we know at the time that it would set the tone for entire album and push us forward in the direction we wanted to go with our sound."[18]

Publicity picture of PSOTY taken on 25 April 2019, in promotion of Sunless. From left to right: Steve McKenna, Dale Vinten, Scott Gowan, and Adrian Lawson.

In October 2016, the band recruited second guitarist Adrian Lawson, a resident of Mansfield, England.[19] The other three founding members, vocalist and guitarist Scott Gowan, bass guitarist Steve McKenna, and drummer Dale Vinten, all originally resided in Peterborough, England, but Gowan had since relocated to London, England.[19] Vinten would eventually move to Neuilly-le-Vendi, France, which factored in the extended delay of members getting together to complete the album.[19][15]

By October 2018, the band had demoed all of its material and a two-week session was booked at Bandit Studios in Cotswold, England, where PSOTY had recorded Fragments of Uniforms six years prior.[7][19] Starting 25 February 2019, and into early March, the band recorded eight songs for its sophomore full-length album, Sunless.[20] As with Fragments of Uniforms, PSOTY described Sunless as a concept album: "There is an overarching theme – We took a mythological angle and played on a couple of concepts to relate to the human existence we’re all party to – Struggle, greed, failure, self-doubt."[15] Immediately prior to entering the studio, PSOTY played its first show in nearly two years, on 2 February 2019, as part of the 9 Years of Chaos Festival, held at the Electrowerkz in London.[21][22]

PSOTY performing at Nambucca in London, England on 7 December 2019. From left to right: Scott Gowan, Steve McKenna, and Dale Vinten.

Release and promotion

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Sunless was revealed to the press on 26 July 2019,[23][18][24] simultaneously with the release of the lead single "Oil Blood".[7][4] A second single, "King of Ephyra", was released a week ahead of the album on 6 September 2019.[8][9] Sunless was released on compact disc, double-12-inch vinyl and digitally on 13 September 2019.[7][4] The band again commissioned designer Asim Salman, who had worked on Fragments of Uniforms, to design the album's artwork and layout.[23][18]

PSOTY announced a desire to tour in promotion of the release,[15] but due to its members living in various countries of Europe at the time, and with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic shortly afterward, the band was unable to do so and only played a single concert to promote Sunless. The album-release show was held at the Nambucca in London on 7 December 2019; as of 2024, it remains the band's most recent live event.[10][11][12]

Critical reception and recognition

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Ave Noctum[25]
Blabbermouth[1]
Distorted Sound[5]
Guitar Noodle[26]
Metal Hammer[2]
Metal Heads Forever[27]
PlanetMosh[28]
Rock Hard[29]

PSOTY and Sunless received overall positive reception upon release. Musik3000 included the album in its list Top 3 Albums of the Week in September 2019,[30] while No Clean Singing included it on its list Best British of 2019 in October 2019.[31] Echoes and Dust ranked Sunless No. 7 on its year-end list Records of the Year 2019,[32] New Noise Magazine ranked it No. 9 on its year-end list Best of 2019,[3] and Moderate Rock ranked it No. 10 on its year-end list Albums of the Year – 2019.[33]

Stylistically, the album was categorized as more post-metal[34][35][36] and less post-rock[26] than the band's earlier releases, which had been described as having an equal mix of both genres.[4] Mark Smith of Guitar Noodle opined "Post metal? Post rock? I don’t know, they don’t seem to fit neatly into a single genre."[26] Matt Speer of Ear Nutrition wrote that the band's earlier albums had a "symbiotic relationship" between the genres and were mostly instrumental, and he stated that Sunless "follows none of these rules and polarizes the band’s sound", calling it "stripped down and cumbersome in more traditional post-metal sonic-mass".[4] Dom Lawson of Blabbermouth saw the album as a shift from "riff-driven slow-build with a side order of post-rock's prettiness" to something "less abstract and far more direct". Lawson credited the band with "blurring lines between micro-subgenres with the zeal of true explorers".[1]

Several journalists also labeled the band as progressive metal,[30] with others leaning towards sludge metal,[1][5] doom metal,[5][34] funeral doom metal,[1] alternative metal,[37][30] and space metal.[1] The album's cleaner sections were also identified as ambient,[1][5][27] ethereal,[6] and dark post-rock.[5]

When compared to other band's music, critics most often conjured the names of Isis,[38][39] Neurosis,[25][1] Tool,[1][27] Deftones,[25][2] Palms,[25][2] and Baroness.[5][27] Similarities were also drawn to Pink Floyd,[1] Pelican,[25] Opeth,[1] Mogwai,[1] Martin Grech,[5] Herod,[5] Black Peaks,[25] Cave In,[25] Devil Sold His Soul,[25] Callisto,[38] Cloudkicker,[38] Tesseract,[6] Oh Hiroshima,[6] Red Sparowes,[39] Leprous,[37] Muse,[37] Dead Letter Circus,[37] Karnivool,[37] Russian Circles,[2] Cult of Luna,[2] Between the Buried and Me,[27] Devin Townsend Project,[27] Junius,[31] Thrice,[31] Nordic Giants,[31] Bossk,[11] Amenra,[11] Cocteau Twins,[11] Mithras,[35] and Dumbsaint.[39]

Simon T. Diplock of New Noise Magazine called it "a post-metal treasure that’s a rare balance of power and emotion, depth and darkness".[3] Nick Griffiths of Ave Noctum praised the album's scope and production,[25] and Carl Fisher of Games, Brrraaains & a Head-Banging Life commended its scope and depth.[34] In his review, Nick Cusworth of Heavy Blog Is Heavy called the band underrated after a decade of quality output.[39]

Maria Tricker of Distorted Sounds considered the band promising since its debut album, and she said they "have outdone themselves with Sunless, a post-metal beauty".[5] Mark Martins of Echoes and Dust also described the album as a genre-bender and said it "shows us a band at their peak of creativity".[38] Stephen Hill of Metal Hammer felt the band was starting to perform at the level of its influences, heading toward "post-metal nirvana".[2]

Shaun Milligan of Everything Is Noise appreciated individual tracks, though he felt the album "far best digested as a whole".[6] Nedim Hassan of Get into This urged audiences to listen to it repeatedly, calling it a "mesmeric, panoramic experience".[40] Islander of No Clean Singing approved of the album being "an atypical example of post-metal" and labeled it a "real gem" in an "often overcrowded and oversubscribed" sub-genre.[31]

Track listing

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Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[20] All music by Gowan, McKenna, Vinten, and Lawson.

Sunless track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Oil Blood"8:02
2."The Yawning Void"7:06
3."Watcher of the Abyss"10:14
4."Acheron"3:21
5."Queen of Hades"7:59
6."Charon"2:24
7."King of Ephyra"8:12
8."Obscura"8:09
Total length:55:27

Personnel

[edit]

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[20]

PSOTY
Production
  • Jonny Renshaw – recording engineer, mixer, producer and mastering engineer at Bandit Studios
  • Asim Salman – artwork and layout
  • Darren Toms – A&R at Candlelight Records

Release history

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Release formats for Sunless
Region Date Label Format Catalog
Worldwide 13 September 2019 Candlelight Records / Spinefarm Records / Universal Music Group Digital CANDLE788147
Double LP CANDLE788148
CD CANDLE788149

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lawson, Dom (15 September 2019). "PSOTY – Sunless (Candlelight / Spinefarm)". Blabbermouth. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Hill, Stephen (November 2019). "PSOTY – Sunless (Candlelight) UK post-metallers emerge from the shadows of giants". Metal Hammer.
  3. ^ a b c Diplock, Simon T. (3 January 2020). "Best of 2019". New Noise Magazine. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Speer, Matt (30 July 2019). "P S O T Y – 'Oil Blood' (Single) + 'Sunless' Pre-Order". Ear Nutrition. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tricker, Maria (11 September 2019). "Album Review: Sunless – PSOTY". Distorted Sound Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e Milligan, Shaun (11 September 2019). "PSOTY – "Sunless"". Everything Is Noise. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d Weaver, James (30 July 2019). "PSOTY announce new album 'Sunless'". Distorted Sound Magazine. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Listen: 'King of Ephyra' by PSOTY". Aural Aggravation. 10 September 2019. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  9. ^ a b Khechoyan, Anna (10 September 2019). "PSOTY Share New Single 'King of Ephyra'". Candlelight Records. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  10. ^ a b Clark, Simon (8 January 2020). "Disco Loadout – December 2019: Devin Townsend & Clutch". Heavy Blog Is Heavy. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  11. ^ a b c d e Castles, Paul (17 September 2019). "PSOTY – Sunless". The Midlands Rocks. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  12. ^ a b "7th December | Hundred Year Old Man / E-L-R (CH) / PSOTY / Flies Are Spies From Hell + DJs". Chaos Theory Music. 22 July 2019. Archived from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  13. ^ Pickford, Steve (3 April 2014). "Interview with Pet Slimmers of the Year". The Sludgelord. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  14. ^ a b c Julien, Alexandre (10 April 2016) [18 January 2016]. "PSOTY Interview". Abridged Pause Recordings. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d Jackson, Aaron (30 July 2019). ""We're all about the feels." – PSOTY". Wave Byte. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  16. ^ Bergman, Keith (19 January 2016). "Long-Running U.K. Record Label Candlelight Acquired By Spinefarm". Blabbermouth. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  17. ^ Neilstein, Vince (19 January 2016). "Op-Ed: On Spinefarm's Acquisition of Candlelight Records". MetalSucks. Archived from the original on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  18. ^ a b c Deaux, John (29 July 2019). "PSOTY to Release New Album 'Sunless' on 13th September (Candlelight Records)". All About the Rock. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  19. ^ a b c d Speer, Matt (16 October 2018). "Sound Bite: PSOTY". Ear Nutrition. Archived from the original on 15 May 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  20. ^ a b c Sunless liner notes. Candlelight Records / Spinefarm Records / Universal Music Group. 2019.
  21. ^ "2nd February | 9 Years Of Chaos Festival". Chaos Theory Music. 1 November 2018. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  22. ^ "From guitar crunch to harp'n'dulcimer chime with fifteen bands at 9 Years of Chaos (2nd February)". Misfit City. 19 January 2019. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  23. ^ a b Preece, Naomi (28 July 2019). "PSOTY to Release New Album 'Sunless' on 13th September (Candlelight Records) – Listen to New Single 'Oil Blood' Now". Circuit Sweet. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  24. ^ Daley, Dom (31 July 2019). "PSOTY unveil first track off new album". RPM Online. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i Griffiths, Nick (18 September 2019). "PSOTY – Sunless (Candlelight Records)". Ave Noctum. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  26. ^ a b c Smith, Mark (23 August 2019). "Album Review: PSOTY – Sunless". Guitar Noodle. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  27. ^ a b c d e f McCann, Adam (29 November 2019). "PSOTY 'Sunless' Album Review". Metalheads Forever Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  28. ^ Sly (14 September 2019). "PSOTY – Sunless". PlanetMosh. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  29. ^ Reinhören (23 October 2019). "PSOTY – Sunless (Candlelight/Universal)". Rock Hard (in German). Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  30. ^ a b c Frost, K. (13 September 2019). "Top 3 Alben der Woche: Starset, Sam Fender & PSOTY". Musik3000 (in German). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  31. ^ a b c d e Islander (4 October 2019). "Best of British 2019: Cognizance / PSOTY / Torpor". No Clean Singing. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  32. ^ Salter, Dan (31 December 2019). "Records of the Year – 2019". Echoes and Dust. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  33. ^ Diplock, Simon T. (31 December 2019). "Albums of the Year – 2019". Moderate Rock. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  34. ^ a b c Fisher, Carl (5 September 2019). "Album Review: PSOTY – Sunless (Candlelight Records)". Games, Brrraaains & a Head-Banging Life. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  35. ^ a b Barnes, Dan (28 August 2019). "Album Review : PSOTY – Sunless". The Razor's Edge. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  36. ^ Rodrigues, Luis (4 August 2019). "Album Review: PSOTY – Sunless". The Moshville Times. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  37. ^ a b c d e Schmidt, Nadine (19 September 2019). "PSOTY – Sunless – Review". Krachfink (in German). Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  38. ^ a b c d Martins, Mark (19 September 2019). "PSOTY – Sunless". Echoes and Dust. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  39. ^ a b c d Cusworth, Nick (18 October 2019). "Post Rock Post // September 2019". Heavy Blog Is Heavy. Archived from the original on 18 May 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  40. ^ Hassan, Nedim (18 September 2019). "Dysgeusia 55: Slipknot announce major European tour with Behemoth, plus tour news and the latest new music". Get into This. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
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