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A punishing progressive post-hardcore unit,
Hail the Sun employs a lethal blend of blastbeats, breakdowns, and technical riffage. Emerging in 2010, the band found commercial success with the release of their third long-player and Equal Vision Records debut
Culture Scars, which cracked the Top 40 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart. The group continued to refine their unrelenting blend of screamo, math rock, and experimental post-hardcore on subsequent efforts like
Mental Knife (2018) and
New Age Filth (2021).
Based out of Chico, California,
Hail the Sun was founded in 2009 around the talents of
Donovan Melero (drums, lead vocals),
Shane Gann (lead guitar),
Aric Garcia (rhythm guitar), and
John Stirrat (bass), the band issued an independent studio album, POW! Right in the Kisser!, and EP Elephantitis in 2010 and 2012, respectively, before inking a deal with Sacramento-based Blue Swan Records.
Wake, the group's sophomore studio long-player and first outing for the label, was released in 2014 and elicited a bevy of critical accolades. In 2015, after a bout of Olympic touring, the band announced that it would be parting ways with Blue Swan and moving to Equal Vision Records. The hard-hitting full-length
Culture Scars followed in July 2016, and quickly found its way onto the Billboard Rock charts. Capitalizing on the album's success, they returned with the 2017 Secret Wars EP, featuring the searing single "1109." 2018 saw the release of the punitive full-length
Mental Knife, which was produced by
Saosin's
Beau Burchell. The reliably uncompromising
New Age Filth followed in 2021. ~ James Christopher Monger