“Ancient Arts Of Survival” will be the band’s fourth studio effort and marks the debut of the new singer Bruno Neves
Sunrunner is a heavy-prog trio formed in 2008 in Portland, Maine, USA. The band debuted with the album “Eyes Of The Master” (2011), a prog rock record with heavy metal leanings. Since then, their second album “Time In Stone” (2013), Sunrunner had solidified more into a metal band with prog rock influence, using elements of jazz and acoustic instruments such as violin, flute, bouzouki and percussion. “Heliodromus”, the third full length released in September 2015 by Minotauro Records (Italy), is the most epic one to date, defining the term “heavy-prog” as the bands genre.
“Heliodromus” got excellent response from European and UK press, especially because of its own music identity, as these statements show: “A perfect album!” (Pest Webzine / Romania); “Phenomenal Music” (Rock Hard / Slovenia); “A Great Album” (BadBlack Unicorn / Germany); “A real discovery for all Progressive Rock fans” (In Hard Magazine / Germany); “It takes a few listens to get into, but is well worth the effort” (Power Play Mag / UK); “A good listen and I wouldn’t mind catching them live sometime” (Rock Society Magazine / UK); “Heliodromus is an absolute ‘must’ for all fans of unconventional heavy metal” – (Powermetal / Germany).
The tour in promotion of “Heliodromus” included dates in USA, South America and Russia, where they’ve played at Belomor-Boogie Festival in Akhangelsk.
Back to the US, Sunrunner started to work on it’s new album, “Ancient Arts Of Survival”.
“We began writing the new songs early 2016 and spent the majority of the year composing them”, says the guitar player Joe Martignetti. “The songs are mostly all new ideas with a few old parts sprinkled throughout. The direction is slightly more straightforward than the previous three records. I think after writing ‘Heliodromus’ we realized we enjoyed writing music that was a little less eccentric and experimental… more reminiscent of our roots. So we continued down this path. The new stuff has a really good balance. There is more metal than prog rock. Less guest musicians and embellishments. But there is still plenty of odd time signatures. Lots of 5’s and 9’s”.
Still according to Martignetti, the title “Ancient Arts Of Survival” reflects a time when mankind had the abilities to be in control of his own destiny.
“Without having to rely on technology and society, we we’re able to thrive and adventure in the harshest conditions of any terrain. With nothing but the knowledge and wisdom of the natural landscapes that surrounds us. We have become complacent in a way. Not to undermine the wonderful things we have. For me, I feel it would be nice to still have the knowledge of the past mixed with the things we have today.”
The cover artwork is signed by the artist Jan Michael Barlow and perfectly reflects the title and its concept.
“Ancient Arts Of Survival” will bring the following tracklist: “Dawnland”, “Tracking The Great Spirit”, “Inner Vision”, “The Scout”, “Prophecy Of The Red Skies”, “Distorted Reflection”, “Arrive, Awake, Survive And Thrive”, “Palaver” and “Stalking Wolf”. All instruments and backing vocals of the album were recorded at Acadia Recording Company in Porland, Maine – the same studio where the band recorded “Heliodromus” – and produced by Jimmy Martignetti with Todd Hutchisen as sound engineer. The band also mixed again both the analog and digital recording systems respectively.
All vocals were recorded at Stone Studio in the city of Frutal, Brazil. This happened because Sunrunner now has a new frontman: Bruno Neves!
Bruno Neves is a brazilian singer and was member of the bands Noerya e Kromun, both from Brazil, and also of Desant from Romania. Bruno will debut with Sunrunner on the new album “Ancient Arts Of Survival” and fullfill the band’s agenda for 2018, which includes an European Tour.
Joe Martignetti explains about the new addition on the band’s line-up:
“We have been looking for a replacement, but it is very difficult to find someone who can sing melodically the way we like here in this part of the USA. So almost as a joke, it was like, “Man… it would be easier to find a singer from Brazil than here in the U.S.!” But Eliton (our manager) put an add up and within minutes, we had a slew of people who wanted to be a part of the band. I was shocked! But not in the sense of all the talented singers from Brazil, but for the response time and the willing to work with a band 10.000 miles away! It was a hard decision because everyone who was interested has incredible voices and talent! We chose Bruno because we have many similar interests and influences. He is very motivated and immediately on top of things. And he is determined to move to the US. We also seem to click well, even with just emailing and skype. He seems like the right guy to us. We are excited to see what we can do!”
The adition of Bruno in Sunrunner does not mean that the band will part ways with the current singer/bassplayer, David Joy. Joe explains:
“We needed to find a new singer. Not because of any musical differences or any other kind of conflict with Dave. He has a family and needs to spend time with them. We support him. Family first. However, the door is not fully closed should he choose to work with us still. Such as bass, or backing vocals or whatever.”
More details about the release date of “Ancient Arts Of Survival” and the touring plans for 2018 will soon be announced.
