“Would you like a pair of earplugs?” Oriella Casha, a member of local metal band Rising Sunset asks me after I am introduced to the rest of the band. I look at each of them with a look of surprise and a suspicion they’re pulling my leg; it turns out they’re not.
“Seriously,” they tell me, “it can get quite loud in here; our drummer doesn’t know how to drum quietly so we have to crank the volume up”. I politely take the earplugs, but hesitate in slipping them into my ears until I feel I need them, which as it turns out, I don’t. This was the first time a band offered me earplugs, but I’m meeting the band about another ‘first time’, since I’m sitting in on a rehearsal ahead of Rising Sunset’s first-ever gig on Saturday.
Just because this will be their first public live performance doesn’t mean they are novices. The band’s roots go back to a series of jam sessions between guitarists Carlo Calamatta and Mario Camilleri Brennan, soon to be joined by singer Christa Calamatta. The idea was to form a metal band that had a positive philosophy as its core inspiration, as opposed to the largely darker vein that dominates much of the contemporary metal scene. That was back in 2001, and despite not having a traditional full line-up, Rising Sunset also recorded and released a four-track EP, Rhema in 2006.
Calamatta fills me in: “By that time, the band also included violinist Oriella Casha and guitarist Joe Costa (now with Inner Grey) who would commute regularly from Gozo for rehearsals and recording.” Understandably, this would take its toll on Costa, who eventually left the band. “It was an amicable split. We will always be grateful for his input and dedication to Rising Sunset.”
The current formation has only been together since May last year, after drummer Antoine Ferrito, formerly of Sceptocrypt, having read an article about the band in a local magazine, approached the band.
Prior to Ferrito’s arrival, Rising Sunset had no drummer. Actually, until a few months earlier, they had no bassist either. “The songs on Rhema were recorded in our own studio,” Calamatta explains.
“This band was originally intended to have a studio-based set-up, focusing on writing songs and recording. We were using a drum machine as a temporary measure at the time, but I must admit that having to programme all the drum sequences slowed us down.”
On the CD, Calamatta also plays bass and keyboards, but as much as the end result is quite satisfactory, they all agree that having a drummer and a bassist – Jonathan Orlando – has given the music a new dimension.
It’s also given them the morale boost necessary to take the band to the next level: performing in public and not just behind closed doors in their rehearsal room.
Individually, practically all the band members have adequate experience, although this varies from member to member. Calamatta, Camilleri Brennan and Ferrito have all been involved in the metal scene previously, while Casha, Orlando and Christa Calamatta have been involved in musical projects elsewhere.
The mixture is quite interesting in that Orlando for example, admits that metal isn’t really his ‘thing’.
“I’m more into classic and contemporary rock,” he says, “but when I was asked to audition, I was intrigued by the classical element that Rising Sunset’s songs projected”.
The classical element comes courtesy of singer Christa Calamatta and violinist Oriella Casha, both of whom have a classical rooting and a liking for hard-edged guitar music that is quite in sync.
Calamatta’s vocals are high pitched and piercing in a pleasant, lifting kind of way; Casha’s violin-playing is more often than not backing the singer, but also has its own role to play in giving the music its symphonic slant. Christa is also the one with a knack for words. “Rhema means ‘spoken word’,” she explains, “we want to spread a positive message through our music”.
To some extent Rising Sunset can be defined as a white metal band; the kind who infuse spiritual undertones into their songs, not so much to preach as to transmit a good feeling. But aside from lifting the spirit, some songs focus on more tangible issues too.
“Metal is so often linked to aggressive, destructive themes; we just wanted to turn all that around into something positive, something more optimistic and forward-looking.”
Indeed, there is a very progressive aspect to this band’s music; it is the other ingredient that gels their classical-metal mixture and gives it a defined identity and direction. And it’s been attracting some foreign attention too, the latest being German metal webzine Underground Empire, which will be featuring the band’s EP in an upcoming edition.
Strangely enough, for a melodic power metal act, Rising Sunset don’t have a keyboard player.
“I did use some keyboards on the CD, but only very sparsely; nothing too over-powering,” guitarist Carlo Calamatta concedes. It turns out that having a keyboard player is something the band has considered (even tried) time and again, but they haven’t managed to find what they were looking for, which is an element to supplement but not dominate their sound.
So for the time being, Rising Sunset will remain a six-piece; rest assured however, that there’s enough energy and talent here to grab your full attention this Saturday when they perform with Stillborn at Poxx Bar in Paceville.
www.risingsunset.com.mt
Source: The Sunday Times, October 19, 2008