When Arise From Thorns decided to change their name to Brave, therefore signifying their 'new direction', I thought it was a bit of a silly thing to do. Bands don't normally do that, and I preferred the name Arise From Thorns anyway. Ho hum. The thing is, the songs are not really that different to their last work, but my, how the band have progressed in their musicianship. I remember saying once that Michelle Loose was a good singer, but not a great singer. Now, I am proud to say, she is a great singer. She doesn't miss a note on this one, doesn't curl her vocals [i.e. warble] and she just sounds wonderful. The band are as tight as ever and their skills are as good as on their last album, if not better. I also feel I should give a mention to Trevor Shrotz's drumming – it really is perfect for Brave's sound and I enjoyed it even more on this album than on Before An Audience Of Stars.

Brave have produced here some of the finest acoustic rock I have heard. However, they have the ability to make their acoustics the kind that appeal to the Metal world, and Searching For The Sun is also not without its fair share of distortion. Nevertheless, in order for this album to be perfect it would need Tom Phillips' guitar work, which added so much atmosphere to their last release. This does not prevent them for producing some great tracks, especially I Believe, Trapped Inside, Bleed Into Me and Out Of Focus. I also notice that Chris Wellborn [or Wellfed - feel free to edit that comment, but I thought it was funny], the bassist, is no longer with the band. Still, where one door closes another opens and since releasing this album Brave have acquired a violinist, Suvo Sur, who I'm told on good authority is very gifted, to say the least.

Searching For The Sun is one of the best albums I have heard come out of the mellower side of the genre in a long time. It doesn't matter if you like your music hard, heavy, full, grating, intense and evil. I challenge you not to appreciate this.