Second full length album from Apostle Of Solitude, a Midwestern doom outfit that features guitarist/singer Chuck Brown who had previously played drums for Gates Of Slumber, still carrying the torch for classic old-school doom metal with this project, although with a slightly tweaked take on the sound. We're talking about some serious Hellhound Records/Maryland doom-style metal, with massive slow-crawling bluesy riffs carved out of huge blocks of Sabbath, creeping doleful dirges powered by huge pounding saurian rhythms and streaked with lots of killer melodic lead guitar; the nine songs on Last Sunrise are directly descended from the classic sound of bands like Saint Vitus, Unorthodox, Internal Void, The Obsessed, Wretched, and Iron Man, and fans of that sort of traditional doom sound should definitely give Apostle Of Solitude a listen. Brown and crew also add some somber spacious passages of melodic guitar and fantastic twin guitar harmonies, interesting flourishes of twangy dark Americana on "Letting Go of the Wheel" and jazz-piano flecked balladry on "December Drives Me to Tears", and even crank up the energy level on a couple of songs by ripping into the occasional NWOBHM style gallop, like on "Hunter Sick Rapture" and "Coldest Love", or the straight up thrash that "Frontiers of Pain" rips into after a lengthy intro of creeping dirge, but the majority of the album is spent wallowing in super heavy lumbering DOOM, equally crushing and majestic and very, very melodic, the melodic aspect enhanced even more by Brown's extremely soulful and dramatic vocals. His soaring, soulful singing really stand out, and may put off doom fans who aren't so crazy about vocals that are this "croony"; his voice reminds me of a cross between Jonah Jenkins (Only Living Witness/Milligram/Raw Radar War) and Eddie Vedder, and it definitely adds an interesting "rock" sheen to the otherwise crushing doom.

Then there are the cover songs. After the nine tracks that make up the album proper, Apostle Of Solitude has also included three covers from The Obsessed, The Misfits, ad Born Against, all of which are pretty fucking killer, and which spin the original songs into AOS's own melodic doom style. The cover of The Obsessed�s �Streetside� is heavier and way more metal than the original, the Misfits classic �Astro Zombies� is given a similar super-heavy treatment, and the cover of �Mary and Child� from 90's hardcore legends Born Against is an unexpected slab of thrashing, anthemic aggression. Usually covers are throwaway additions to an album, but Apostle Of Solitude have turned this into a defining part of their style, even going so far as to include an entirely different set of covers on the European release of this disc!

Recommended for disciples of trad doom and Gates Of Slumber fans, who both should dig this interesting take on classic doom.