FOLD’s strain of grunge is meaty and tight. A bridge between The Foo Fighters’ gritty straightforwardness and Soundgarden’s brooding and technical sound, At The End of The Sun comes to showcase the vast expanse of talent the group possesses via 13 heavy and juicy songs.
German four-piece band FOLD hails from the town of Zweibrucken. On At The End of The Sun the band is featuring the drums of Daniel Nikola, heralding solid performances that are just balanced between restraint and appropriate flamboyance. The sound of the group on their debut does extend even further back than the golden age of grunge, the 90s, reaching as far back as to the heyday of fellow countrymen Scorpions in the 80s, with a neat mix of distorted riffs and sparkling clean arpeggios that show up throughout the album.
There can be no denying that the music on At The End of The Sun is heavy-handed, sludgy, brash, and loud. The songs are mainly constructed of looming, dark, and distorted riffs to back the baritone hollers of frontman Stephan Alt alongside the aforementioned hard-hitting beats. The band are also fans of exciting and alien-sounding harmonies and riffs. Songs like the appropriately named ‘Chromatically Shifting’, whose riff just literally chromatically shifts, and the challenging distorted cacophony of ‘Chase The Setting Sun’ showcase the band as willing and bold sonic adventurers. On the other hand, ‘Stranded To Fade’ and ‘Despicable Youth’ display the band’s ability to write somewhat accessible melodies and riffs that harken back to a Green Day-ish flair.
Another facet that could not be dismissed is the clear resemblance to Metallica that shows up throughout the songs via Alt’s ominous baritone and angular melodies. ‘When Everything Ends’ and ‘A Grain of Sand’ are murky and sludgy riff-fests that define the album’s latter half and display the Metallica resemblance quite well.
FOLD’s debut is quite an exciting listen. Fresh and powerful production, amazing performances across the board, specifically on the guitars and drums which carry most of the brunt of the music, all alongside Alt’s commandeering and stark presence. ‘At The End Of The Sun’ is an album that will bring together lovers of The Foo Fighters, Metallica, and Scorpions, which is a feat that is exceedingly tough, so effortlessly carried out by FOLD’s debut.
