Far, Feeble Being
(c)1996

Review by Neil St.Laurent
Cassette provided by the band

Sunfade have maintained the spirit of metal while combining in newer elements, or different elements, to produce this recording. Their focus is on the melody of the music. In this sense it'd almost be safe to say that they could be considered a classic doom band. A very clean sound; relatively free of random time switches and without a continuous distortion in the background. Sunfade even goes as far as to combine a clean guitar into their music.

Attempting, and achieving, atmosphere in their songs, Sunfade is very much trying to play on your emotions and bring you into the world they are portraying. The drums are far enough withdrawn that they do not intrude into the music (mostly), and keep their place as the beat. The bass can be heard in the background of the music, adjusting slightly during the song, allowing for the continuous flow of the music. The guitars are where most of the effort is done to give the strong feeling of atmosphere. Generally the guitars deliver none to complex riffs; it is in their timing and trade-offs where the music gains its value. A strong note should be made about the variety of riffs on the album, ranging anywhere from metal style to somewhat jazz or blues styles.

Do not let any of this make you think that Sunfade is some kind of wimpy, or slow band, for this would not be true at all. Sunfade manages to keep the speed up for a good portion of the album. There is also a decent share of intensity to be found in the music, despite the vocal mixing not really achieving that same intensity. "Visionary" and "Lie-o-philized God" break their attempts at atmosphere and go for a more classical metal approach at times. I would recommend the band stick to the melodic, atmospheric components, since they do them so much better. Not that these other components are terrible, it's just the transitions in the music suffer, and just don't appear to be what the band wants to do.

The music does lack a bit of maturity, but Sunfade is fairly young band. "Far, Feeble Being" is a quite impressive release. With a bit more experience Sunfade should be able to, without changing style, make an excellent release, distinctive from the masses of music available at that time.

Cristiano Nicosia - Guitar / Vocals
Alberto Benetti - Bass
Marco "Cuzzo" Liotto - Drums
Marco "Gu" Gusy - Guitar

Contact:
Cristiano Nicosia
Via Cilento n°10
36100 Vicenza
Italy

Email

The tape costs Lire 8000 (Italy), $7\DM 11 (Europe), $8\DM 12 (Overseas)

Wwith Cristiano

Tell us a little about the history of theband?

We formed as a trio in late 1993.The line up was composed by myself on guitar and vocals, Alberto Benetti on bass and,after testing different drummers, Cuzzo on drums.We played a mix of metal and hard core, following the large hard core scene of our home city.We recorded a little promotape in the summer of 1994 destined only to close supporters and promoters.The music was original, but that wasn't what we wanted to do, so in 1995 we erased the old material, Keeping just a couple of riffs ("Visionary" and "Waves").A second guitarist, Marco "Gu" Gusy wass added to the original line up.We worked hard on new songs and finally, in the summer of this year, we recorded the demotape "Far, feeble being".

What other bands/musicians influence you?

Our principal influences are:the classic metal bands (Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth); The technical\progressive bands such as Dream Theater, Cynic (my own favourite band),Fates Warning,Rush,Leviathan. Personally I've been influenced by musicians as Dave Murray, Al Di Meola, James Murphy, Paul Masvidal, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci.My favourite singers are singers like James Hetfield, Bruce Dickinson and John Bush.

What are some inspirations for song lyrics?

I'm the writer of all the lyrics of our demotape.I never wanted to write fantasy lyrics (wizards,ufo,satan etc.).I always take inspiration from real life, from its pains, its pleasures, its charming illogicity. I use to write in the night, always in the winter months.

What has the crowd response been like at live shows? -What are future touring plans?

-The crowd reaction to our shows has been positive. We've sold 160 tapes in less than two months just in our near-home area. We also have a sort of fanclub, or better a group of friends that follow us and start the mosh when the audience is a little cold. Our touring plans for the future: We're going to play 4 or 5 important gigs,until the ending of this year,outside our city.In one of these we'll support a power metal band from Milano that has just released its first CD.Next summer we're planning a mini tour in Germany, where we have some good contact.

Are there any plans for a new album yet?

Right this week we'll start rehearsing together our new songs.I can tell you that they'll be far more technical and innovative than our old tunes. After finishing them we'll record a second demo or, more probably, a mini-CD and we will look for a contract with a good label. At the moment we're also looking for good compilations proposals.

-Any expected lineup changes?

We've finally found a singer, and we'll start rehearsing with him this week.I never liked singing very much, so I decided to focus myself only on guitar, Wich is my favourite instrument.Now Sunfade is a five-piece band, ready to erase anything on its ways!!!!

What progress have you made in acquiring a new singer?

We want to improve the vocal part of our songs, and to do that we need a good singer.Another reason is that I (Cristiano) don't like singing very much...I prefer to focus strictly on my guitar-playing.

Do you feel satisfied with the outcome of this release?

Yes, at 18 years old of age we produced a work which goes far beyond the capacities of a lot of older bands.The demo gave us the spur for improving our technique and our songwriting in future.So, we look at this work as a basis for our next one, which will be something really special, trust me.

What changes, if any, are going to be made to the style in the future? Especially if you acquire a new singer.

The acquiring of a singer will enable us to produce intricate guitar rythms without the problem of reproducing them live. Singing and playing at the same time, in fact is not an easy thing. Our style, in the future will surely evolute.The new songs we're working on are far more technical, with more melody inside them.We also want to create a big atmosphere with a strong emotiaonal impact.Or main focus is to play something original, and our future material will be something which has not been heard before.

What is the purpose of including "Visionary" in the list of songs? It doesn't naturally fit with the rest of the recording.

Visionary is the oldest of our songs.It is a technical song (with a complex 7\4 time in the middle), which reflects our techno\thrash inclination.It doesn't seems to us so "not in line" with the other songs.

I have commented in my review that your music could use a little bit more experience. Do you feel the same way, and looking at the album now (only a few months later) do you feel you probably could do it better now?

We 're young musicians and ,you know, every day you learn something mor or you get better.Probably some little fragment of the songs would be different, if we would record the demo today.My vocal style has surely improved, although quite probably I won't have to sing anymore.

What have been some other impressions about "Far, Feeble Being" so far?

The comments have been generally positive, and the sales of the tape confirm it. Some reviews said that we are a promise for the future, that if we continue our progression we'll be one of the best Italian bands...we hope so!

Any other comments?

Please, listen to our tape: help our cause!!!Keep on thrashing!!!!