History & Biography Total Metal Records issued Desert Near The End’s Hunt For The Sun album in late 2014. It was the follow-up to A Crimson Dawn demo. Lyrically, it was a concept album about a symbolical hunt for the true Sun and everything that this journey means to every man. The band was originally formed in 1997, but had gone through different monickers and line-ups to reach its present form. Desert Near The End had an album called Of Fire And Stars through Metal Scrap Records. The title track was an advance single.
The Dawning Of The Son was issued in the spring of 2022. The lyrics were based on The Red Rising Son by author Pierce Brown. There was a lyric video for the song Break The Chains. A pop vocalist called Ruby Bouzioti made a guest appearance on the song.
Reviews DESERT NEAR THE END - HUNT FOR THE SUN - METAL SCRAP 
Although Desert Near The End from Greece is ostensibly a new band, the group's history stretches back to the late '90s. This explains the maturity and tightness of the songs on this, the band's second full-length.
The early impression on opening track Storm On My Side is a band thrashing as UK's Sabbat once did. It is dense and powerful. The band's rhythm section and guitars pound a la Sodom, while the dual edge of Dark Angel is another remarkable feature. The vocals of Alexandros Papandreou are as if Hansi Kuersch of Blind Guardian is behind the mike in a more aggressive capacity. The drums are somewhat tiny sounding, but are not quite pots 'n panish. Hunt For The Sun is a fairly well baked speedy and in-your-face concept. The best instance of it is the song Eastern Path when the band speeds up and maintains the best of rhythms in accelerated fashion. Fantastic! - Ali "The Metallian"
DESERT NEAR THE END – OF FIRE AND STARS – METAL SCRAP 
The latest Desert Near The End album is gruff. The vocals are gruff, the music is gruff, the production is gruff and it all adds up to an album full of power metal, thrash metal, bash metal, rough metal and gruff metal. The band veers from mid-paced to speedy and back. The vocals change and differ and go from clean to coarse and back and even include more than one layer at times. The drums take the short end of the stick with the bass drums especially sounding muffled and powerless. This, despite the band’s drummer putting in an energetic performance. The flat production brings down the band a notch. The guitars shine when in lead mode and one again really wonders why oh why these bands do not include more soloing when the short and precious few they have are so good. Throne Of Martyrdom is distinctive as it attempts a more epic feeling. Could be that the band was listening to Manilla Road as it composed this one, but never mind as it is back to standard Desert fare soon enough with a military feel to boot! Finally, all puns intended, The Final frontier mixes thrashing speed with a Maiden-esque atmosphere. Most bands begin an album with an acoustic intro but this group opts for it to end its newest album thus going out on an atmospheric note.
It looks and sounds like the band is dealing in a concept here. Track titles like A World Beyond, The Call of The Stars, The Final Frontier and Of Fire And Stars hint as much. It would be a good question to ask the band. 60/00 denotes an above average album that fails to reach superlative status however. – Ali “The Metallian
Interviews
|
