MOURNIN'

This singular offering from German hard rock band Night Sun harbours many what ifs. Embraced by younger generations of headbangers as a harbinger of various metal stylings, it has frequently been specifically compared to Deep Purple on speed or other stimulant drugs. The music nonetheless contains enough progressive attributes to invite the attention of fans of the early seventies progrock effusion who might have overlooked this 1972 jewel engineered by German mixing board wizard Conny Plank incorporating his wild & wonderful studio phase-shifting effects.

The first thing that the musically informed will notice are the syncopatic rhythmic structures that form the foundation of the heavy guitar / Hammond organ riffing that gives their music a certain depth. Keyboard player / multi-instrumentalist Knut Rossler had experience playing jazz in the late 60s in an ensemble named Take Five that also included members of Kin Ping Meh and this must have had some bearing on the more technical aspects of this otherwise hard rocking album. Bass player Bruno Schaab's melodic groovin' high register vocals also provided the band with vocal power that was missing with other German bands who sang in broken English.

I purchased the album ca. 1978 from a second hand shop without having even heard it and couldn't believe these guys were from Germany. Sounding more like something from the UK because of the instrumental configuration. There was definitely some Genesis , ELP & Crimson influences hiding in there if one listened carefully to tracks like the textured & almost epic Come Down, the Hammond driven Nightmare or the dark & jazzy sax led Don't Start Flying. I wished that there were moremusically intricate tracks on the album because it was evident that these guys were capable musicians. When the internet came to prominence in the late 90s the album started to recieve rave-ups on metal sites and blogspots on the merits of a few of the " thrashier " tracks such as Plastic Shotgun, Blind and Crazy Woman. There were all these comparisons to 70s heavy hitters such as Led Zep, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep that I couldn't comprehend at all. Perhaps one bluesy track, Slush Pan Man, could be distantly likened to Black Sabbath but that would really be clutching at straws. Think more of early 70s hard rocking power trios Sir Lord Baltimore, Jeronimo or Dust and you are closer to Night Sun's heaviness that all the metal heads and stoners are obsessing over on these sites.

Along with a few other German one album wonders such as Spermull I wonder where NightSun would have gone had they had the opportunity to mature. 1972 was definitely a happening year musically for both progressive and hard rock bands and perhaps this is why Night Sun became another ant on the hill that quickly faded away into solitary confinement ( although Bassist / vocalist Bruno Schaab surfaced on two Guru Guru LPs). Fortunately, even if for the wrong reasons, Night Sun's Mournin' has been resurrected over the internet, acquiring a certain cult status and is easily obtained on CD on Second Battle although an original Zebra vinyl edition might require a bit of searching.

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