Rising Sunset was born in July 2001, when Carlo Calamatta (Guitars) and Mario Camilleri Brennan (Guitars) decided to meet for some jamming sessions. Carlo had the idea to create a metal band that delivers a positive message to the listeners and Mario agreed with this philosophy. A few weeks later, Christa Miller (Vocals) joined forces with Carlo and Mario. Christa introduced atmospheric and stylish vocals, which had a great influence in the compositions of the songs being written. Another musician, Joe Costa, joined Rising Sunset to help with the soloing and guitar rhythm parts. The prime notion was to have a third guitarist harmonizing with the other two rhythm guitars. However, as Joe lives across the waters in Gozo (one of the Maltese islands) it proved difficult for him to meet regularly with the rest of the members and the idea of three harmonizing guitars was not feasible. Joe was therefore asked to concentrate on some guitar solos of the planned project. Later, Oriella Casha joined up with her violin to create harmony melodies. Her violin touches blended very well with the vocal lines making the band’s style more classic and atmospheric.

At this stage the line-up was a 5-piece band without a bassist, a keyboardist and a drummer. The first few months together were a bit difficult due to the absence of these instruments. Carlo introduced the idea of using a drum-machine as a temporary measure so that Rising Sunset could start composing songs and jamming together along with a drum beat. For the time being the search for a drummer was postponed and the drum machine programming took a serious approach. This move was successful and it gave a heartbeat to the band. With great moral support from the co-founding members (Christa & Mario), Carlo created the initial drum patterns for the first song 'Timeless Beauty'. The next compositions followed the same path and the following songs were written: 'Immortal Devotion', 'Journey into the Woods', 'End of Iniquity' and 'Sword of the Spirit'.

Recording 'Rhema' - the first mini album (EP)

In December 2005, the band entered a private home studio and the recordings took place immediately after the plan of the project was designed. A drum machine was used as a substitute for the lacking drummer and Carlo took the programming of the drums himself along with the compositions and recordings of the bass guitar and keyboards.

Carlo also took the role of audio engineer and producer for the recordings of the planned project. Song by song, the EP 'Rhema' was recorded, mixed and completed in May 2006. 'Rhema' consists of 4 songs namely: 'Sword of the Spirit', 'End of Iniquity', 'Journey into the Woods' and 'Timeless beauty'.

The track ‘Immortal Devotion’ was not included in this mini-album but it will probably be released in the near future.

The Message

The band’s name, Rising Sunset, indicates the beginning and the end of our human existence and the continuation after passing to our new life.

“They say that life is a journey with a beginning and an end, however the end is only the beginning! And what we do on our journey, until its end, determines from where we are going to start our new beginning”.

Christa Miller Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.