4 Albums That Inspired Sunrot's "The Unfailing Rope"
Earlier this month, New Jersey ‘post-noise power sludge’ dealers Sunrot unveiled The Unfailing Rope, their second full-length album six years in the making. The record finds Sunrot exploring the harrowing emotional potential of heavy music in a rather unpredictable fashion: there are very few constants on The Unfailing Rope beyond its ability to cut right down to our core. In both short settings and lengthier songs, the band artfully conducts a brutally in-depth examination of suffering and rage. Generally speaking, it’s a balance of noise and atmosphere against riffs – and man, what riffs! Titanic and imposing, they’re arrayed within an expansive tapestry of suspense-heightening lulls and fascinating textures, providing volume-based catharsis.
It’s a concoction that might spur some questions around influences and inspirations, and Sunrot has graciously offered a list of four albums that inspired The Unfailing Rope. From both the perspective of guitarist Chris and vocalist Lex, here’s a shortlist of works in the ever-expanding realm of heavy music that spurred them into crafting this album.
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Indian – From All Purity
This album & band have had a pretty heavy influence on my guitar playing in general. They’re the perfect blend of dissonant gnarliness & melodic blissfulness that I just can’t get enough of. Everything from their chord choices to the layers of noise going on underneath the tracks are beautiful. I think I speak for the majority of everyone in the band that this album is a 10/10. A couple of us just recently saw them at Saint Vitus and they were incredible.
-Chris
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Sleep – The Sciences
This record came out right around the same time we started putting together the songs that would end up being “The Unfailing Rope”. I know there are a lot of mixed feelings about this record but to me, it’s a solid Sleep album. It was on constant repeat as I worked on Sunrot riffs. I think Matt Pike’s influence in my playing is pretty obvious but I’m not entirely sure how well that translates. Some of the riffs on “Trepanation” & “Patricide” are hugely inspired by his riffs. I saw Sleep in the summer of 2014 at some small club in midtown-Manhattan with Holy Sons and that was a pretty monumental night for me. I went home and wrote a lot of riffs after that. Follow the smoke forever.
-Chris
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Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine of Hell
This album was my AOTY in 2021. All of the music for ‘The Unfailing Rope’ was already recorded, but I had to redo my lyrics on many songs I wasn’t happy with and lay down my vocals. This album’s rawness and realness still make my heart skip a beat from time to time when I’m listening to it. Though the genres aren’t the same, this album was so inspirational to get completely vulnerable and fearless about the topics we wanted to shed light on and the depths of the lyrics and music we wanted to go to. This record is cathartic, emotional, provokes awareness of self, and a lifeline if you are in a hole that feels inescapable. Those are just some of the vibes we wanted to include on our record too. Emma Ruth Rundle is an amazing musician, songwriter, lyricist, artist, and just all around creative and this record showed all of that off very clearly. The greatness of this record is definitely something to aspire too for me
-Lex
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Amenra – Mass VI (Honorable Mention)
Though this record came out in 2017 it still moves me and inspires me. It came out the same year as our first full length, ‘Sunnata’, and has been a creative force pushing the boundaries for me ever since. I feel like it’s been a part of this process from start to finish for me. I’m so grateful it was made and released when it was.
-Lex
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The Unfailing Rope released April 7th via Prosthetic Records.
