Album Review: Terminal Sun – All That Will Burn Is Already On Fire (Self Released)

Forged with passion, grit and determination, ‘All That Will Burn Is Already on Fire’ is the debut album from Sheffield’s Terminal Sun – an overpowering, all-consuming vision of the end. It arrives on July 6th, 2024.

Sinister and synthy, the intro of Catastrophic Error sets the horror-laden scene for this album well, especially as the recorded news voice speaks of the infamous Chernobyl disaster. It builds expectation, it builds excitement, and it builds intrigue. Something well and truly paid off with the thick and sinewy heaviness of the following AZ5. There’s a fascinating industrialisation to this track, Terminal Sun delivering a scathingly heavy piece of blackened death-infused dissonance.

It’s a high bar set early on, but this band is more than capable of surpassing it time and time again. First, with the grim and bleak intensity of The Liquidators (and the Liquidation of the Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident). Then, with the desperate and savage sound of Metamorph, Terminal Sun showcasing lurching riffs, menacing groove, and visceral vocals. That this track is over ten minutes long is startling, but there’s no wasted seconds here. The latter section’s egregious use of 80s style synth is fabulous, and it makes the track all the more interesting.

It’s these tone shifts that makes this album even more compelling and why a track like Macready’s Last Stand and its lonely melodies works. Especially as there’s a consistent underlying darkness that continues into the cacophony of blackened noise that is the title track. If you’re looking for one track to head bang to, this is likely going to be it. Especially as following this absolute beast, there’s a two-parter called The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water. Part I (Narrative) being quite morse and atmospheric, and Part II being a thrilling slice of heavy mania that doesn’t mess around as far as intensity goes.

The level of thought and care that has gone into making this album feel so big, come across so dark, and be so addictive is immeasurable impressive. So much so, that the end just sort of sneaks up on you, and suddenly you’re banging your head to the groovy riffs of Fragments, letting the ambient melodies and emphatic synth of Parallels wash over you, before experiencing the cacophonous level of genre-blending that is The Space Between Two Deaths. A finale of epic and heavy proportions, and the exclamation mark on an incredible release.

Terminal Sun have more than delivered on their debut album.

Terminal Sun – All That Will Burn Is Already on Fire Track Listing:

1. Catastrophic Error
2. AZ5
3. The Liquidators (and the Liquidation of the Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident)
4. Metamorph
5. Macready’s Last Stand
6. All That Will Burn is Already on Fire
7. The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water Part I (Narrative)
8. The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water Part II
9. Fragments
10. Parallels
11. The Space Between Two Deaths

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