There are many different artists all over the world with the name Brom as their title, however Russian experimental jazz quartet Бром "Brom" stands out amongst them. Other artists associated with this name are Gerald Brom whom is an American gothic illustrator, and the hip-hop/producer Brom from Alberta. This producer is unfortunately grouped as being the same artist as Бром in Apple Music, which is confusing to the listener and irritating for both artists involved. These artists are in no way affiliated.

Бром was originally formed during 2008 in Moscow and has gone through numerous lineup changes since they began. Originally consisting of four members, the group recorded the album Nebula in 2011 and eventually became a duet in 2013. In 2014 Konstantin Sukhan joined the group as a trumpet player and they released the album Three Ribs during that year. A few years after this record was produced, Sukhan left the group and the band released Lump Sugar under Moscow label TOPOT. In 2016 the group switched from sounding like traditional jazz , to adding in experimental and industrial influences. The group now consists of Dmitry Lapshin on double bass, Anton Ponomarev playing the saxophone, Yaroslav Kurilo on drums, and Felix Mikensky playing the synthesizer. In 2018 Бром released the album Sunstroke on TROST Records.

Sunstroke's album artwork was definitely inviting with its use of black and white contrast, and the image of light shining through a window, cutting off a cartoonish man's head. This art was created by Lapshin and is a perfect representation of what this album makes the listener feel. By the end of the seventh track your head will literally feel like it's apart from your body.

The album began with the track "Plunge into an Ice Hole" and this title was a perfect description of what this song makes the listener feel. Begin the most popular track on the album, this song immediately set the ground work for what the listener should be expecting. The loud, high pitched squeal of the saxophone is prominently heard and easily distinguishable as being the "lead" of the group. This contrast between the high saxophone with the low tones of the bass and drum make this song a very interesting listen. After the chaotic music died down, the song began to sound more like traditional jazz around 2 minutes in, however it slowly reverts back to the original chaos by the 4-minute mark and eventually ends by the saxophone ceasing its squealing.

Unfortunately, the second track "Tuna" and the seventh track "Mingus 30°C" are unavailable to listen to, unless you purchase on the album on the group's Bandcamp account. However these two songs aren't created by the band, but instead arranged by them.

Track three "Sunstroke" sounds super similar to the first song and if you've made it this far in the album let me be the first to say congratulations. This title track first featured each instrument playing their own individual part, rather than playing as a group. However around two minutes in, they start to play each part off of one another, almost as if they're answering each other. This song also featured more traditional sounding jazz than the first song, which could be heard around four minutes in. The track ends with this traditional sound but incorporates a slow, low tuned, and heavy bass.

The fourth song on the album "Queue" was one of the longest. Lasting around nine minutes in total, this song starts with a slow drum beat that eventually gets more and more chaotic. This chaos is also driven by the saxophone that comes into play that sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Afterwards, they synthesizer provides a feedback sample and the band throttles their chaos. This was one of my least favorite songs on the album due to the total disarray of the instruments and the disorderly organization that they created. However, this song gives a lot for the listener to focus on, so the nine minutes fly by.

The fifth song "Urtica" immediately started with the saxophone screeching over a feedback sample. The track then goes into a deeper, and lower sound as the drums blend with the bass. This blend allows them to form a direction in which the rest of the instruments follow and is one of my favorite tracks on the album. This song was definitely easier for the listener to digest, and might have been a better introduction track to the album than "Plunge into an Ice Hole".

The final track available was "Hematoma" and is also one of the longest songs on the album. Similar to "Queue", this song had so many different elements to focus on that the nine minutes flew by. This track started with an interesting beginning due to the way the bass and drums mixed with each other. Afterwards a more traditional jazz sound can be heard, followed by more chaos previously heard on the album. Eventually around two minutes in the song started to get quieter, and this lasted up until five minutes where the saxophone is reintroduced. Afterwards the song repeats its low tones until the eight-minute mark where every instrument got as loud as they possibly could. This high forced, sudden volume woke the listener up and allowed them to stay focused until the last second of the song.

Sunstroke is definitely one of the weirdest albums I have ever listened to, and sticks out among the vast sea of music for precisely that reason. I'm not sure whether I enjoy the album because each listen provides a different exposure to a certain element, or if its just a symptom of the mere-exposure effect. Either way I definitely recommend listening to this album a few times because I don't believe the listener will be able to digest everything properly in one sitting. There is so much to dissect about this album and I don't know if this music can really be categorized under the Jazz genre. There are certainly numerous samples of traditional jazz among this album, however is this album too experimental to be called such? Isn't the basis of Jazz formed on experimental? I still can't decide, but overall this album received a solid 6 out of 10. Sunstroke sounded tremendously different than every other album in Бром's discography and I anxiously look forward to what this group produces next.