Buried Under Noise 001: Dragged Into Sunlight

What is Buried under Noise? Buried under Noise is a segment where we showcase profile of bands that deserve greater attention. These are bands that have created unique, distinct sounds and pushed extreme music in a subculture stereotyped with stagnation.

This week, we look at Dragged Into Sunlight (UK).

Dragged Into Sunlight

Source: Prosthetic Records

Nocturnal creatures reign at night. They lurk behind the shadows, plotting beneath the moonlight. Drag them out during the day, they screech at high pitch and you get a glimpse of how horrendous they are. The wrinkle on the skin of bats, make you understand why they hide behind the darkness.


Dragged Into Sunlight, like their name suggests, are like those bats, vampires or what other ghouls exist in the night. The subject matter of their lyrics is exposed under the light and they crawl back into the darkness.

Source: Bleeder Magazine

If other extreme Metal bands sing about darkness in the supernatural sense, Dragged Into Sunlight uses sound clips from our actual media. Repeating in the background like in a post apocalyptic movie intertwined with white noise.



Dragged Into Sunlight is an extreme Metal band from the UK that manages to combine Black and Death Metal with the knuckle dragging intensity of Sludge Metal. Their aim seems to be to create the most terrifying sounds you can combine from the most evil subgenres of Metal. This band is the British equivalent of Lord Mantis and one the front runners of this new wave of Blackened Sludge.

Source: Exclaim Canada

Playing with a sense of paranoia, the band also refuses to reveal their identities. All members wear balaclava and the band prefers the word "collective" instead of band. Meaning, the band is rotational and no number is fixed, making it harder for people to pin down who's who. So don't bother try figuring out who they are. They probably don't want you to, and hate the breach of privacy in the process.


With the combination of high shrieks, at times furious double bass gets dragged across sludgy fields at a devastating slow pace. Traditional Black Metal, especially the Norwegian branch employ blast beats and snare abuse. Making them good friends with Thrash, thus cross pollinating to create Blackened Thrash. It wouldn't be a stretch to hear Marduk and years later, someone can easily conjure something closer to Skeletonwitch.

Source: Metal Made Fitness

The "Blackened Sludge" Dragged into Sunlight employs, takes a look at Sludge from New Orleans, one of the more underlook genres in Metal. While bands under that moniker sing about drug abuse, depression and entrenched poverty in rural America, Dragged Into Sunlight injects the grim British weather and amp up the psychological torture.


Their debut album, Hatred for Mankind eschews plays upon nihilistic poetry; something that lives up to the name of the album. Even the first few seconds using torturous samples, that are ubiquitous in Sludge and Industrial manages to create that dreaded atmosphere.

Source: Noisey

Dragged Into Sunlight recently released a collaborative album with Gnaw Their Tongues, their French counterpart. This is not your regular split album. This is them writing songs alongside Maurice, the sole member of the band to create the most menacing concoction of this new wave of Blackened Sludge.


They will be touring extensively in 2016 with dates across Europe and the United States. Be sure to check them out if you have chance.


So for those who think extreme music is stagnant, try checking out Dragged Into Sunlight.

Daarchlea - Dher Phalse Mesaya

I'm not a Muslim, nor am I a religious man. In fact, agnosticism and skepticism, has always been proper descriptors to my "belief system" ever since my teens. So when I first heard that there is a band that uses Islamic imagery and Arabic/Middle Eastern influences in their music I was a bit skeptical.


Not so much on the usage of Middle Eastern influence in the music but how well do Islamic teaching goes with metal, and in this case Melodic Death Metal with Black Metal influences. Bands like Melechlesh, Behemoth, and even Nile have well integrated Middle Eastern influences in their music. Christianity has also dabbled with Black Metal, ranging from utterly cheesy "I love Jesus" but in a pagan-esque way, to the old testament, vengeful God portrayal that could make me say "Hallelujah" in a heartbeat.


The closest I thought an Islamic tone ever work in Extreme Music was in a sarcastic manner like what the Hardcore Punk band, Fearless Iranians From Hell had as a gimmick. Even Taqwacore Punk bands were sort of cheesy.

By the time I saw this videoclip, let's say my skepticism has sort of quelled. The Islamic imagery seems to work well, akin to the Old Testament vibe that most Christian Metal bands have. The band however employs a sense of Sunni-Supremacy ideologue (to a certain extend, I suspect anti-Shiite), for the lack of a better term. Also, clearly showing the influence on their song title. "Dher Phalse Mesaya." Reminded me of the Muslim Hardcore Punk badasses at the end of the movie Taqwacore, Bilal's Boulder. Whether they should be celebrated for those views, it's up to you to judge. I'm not here to be Reza Aslan or to debate the tenets of a religion that I only understand the basics of.

Now on the music instead. The band employs quick paced melody lines, and by quick paced I mean alternating between blast beats, complex rollings and your regular Death Metal double bass.Now judging from that song only, the band does not seem shy to show their Black Dahlia Murder influence. At times they jump to Dimmu Borgir like clean vocals that somehow managed to fit well into the song. Normally when bands copy Demon Burger, they order an extra slice of melted cheese with it. The droopy ones were my concern. All in all, I can say the track sounds like a very melodic Behemoth, with clean vocals towards the end.

Now these, bad boys (maybe holy would be a better adjective) also have an album, coming out this 27th of August. Even their album inlay has the Arabic influence all over it. To be honest, I thought this was a nice alternative to the typical artwork most Metal bands had.

Don't forget to check out Suns, on the 27th of August and their album launch where they will be playing the whole album, on the 27th of September at Alt HQ, Bukit Bintang. Will definitely be there.

https://www.facebook.com/daarchleaofficial

Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.