Album/EP

Fuming Mouth - Last Day Of Sun (Album Review)

Andrew Kapper

Oct 31, 2023

7 min read

Fuming Mouth – Last Day of Sun
Released: November 3rd, 2023

Line Up:

Mark Whelan // Vocals & Guitars
Andrew Budwey // Guitars
Pat Merson // Bass
James Davis // Drums

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To paraphrase Rocky Balboa; nothing’s heavier than life. After triumphing against his near-year-long battle with Leukaemia in August 2022, it’s safe to say that Fuming Mouth’s Mark Whelan had more than enough emotional and lyrical content to pour into his band’s sophomore full-length. With a sound that takes influence from the raw and razor-sharp sounds of 90s Swedish death metal and nasty crust punk, Fuming Mouth’s new album Last Day of Sun has metal/punk crossover appeal written all over it – and perhaps beyond.

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One of the hardest things to convey - and fake - in music is genuine emotion. Make no bones about it, Last Day of Sun is absolutely drenched in it. Opener ‘Out of Time’ is a stomping grooving riff monster, with Whelan’s huge vocal hook at the start a call to arms for the rest of the LP. First single ‘The Silence Beyond Life’ is absolutely massive, it’s big chorus loaded with enough power and passion - and melody - to grab the ear of any rock music fan. It’s guitar solo rips and tears, and when the final refrain bursts in after a fake-ending, it may be the finest moment of Fuming Mouth’s career to date.

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Sonically real and rough sounding, thanks to the classic Kurt Ballou production job, Last Day of Sun is certainly not overproduced, but it still sounds huge and commanding with it’s HM2 guitar tone. The natural mix adds another element of realness, taking cuts like ‘Burial Practices’ and the punchy ‘Respect and Blasphemy’ from simply being angry tunes to becoming slabs of earnest, emotional outpouring - a real rarity in the extreme metal world. Focus on songwriting is obvious too, with the melodic bridge on the great ‘The Sign of Pain’ a new element for the group, while the attesting ‘I’ll Find You’ an obvious choice for the second teaser track. Another noteworthy aspect of Last Day of Sun is that it feels like a proper album, not just a collection of material slapped together. Bookended with the aforementioned ‘Out of Time’ and the throttling ‘Postfigurement’, it’s obvious that the time and care was put in to make sure the record flows well, far from a playlist of new music.

Last Day of Sun definitely has that breakthrough record vibe to it, that all the pieces are truly beginning to fall into place for Fuming Mouth. Their songwriting has sharpened to a more direct point, creating their biggest and most impassioned material by far. A couple of dips keeps Last Day Of Sun from being a modern classic, but Fuming Mouth definitely deserves all the success that they can muster off the back of this great, emotionally genuine release.