[6] The lyrics on the album are explicitly Christian, drawing heavily from the Bible and referencing Christ and the love of God for all of humanity.

Alex Cantwell from Chronicles of Chaos described the record as "excellent doom with a distinct Norwegian flavour.

They expressed the opinion that while Sonrise "may not have been the best the genre has ever seen, but the emotion that a band with a brutally heavy sound and growled vocals could convey was quite impressive.

[7] Yngve Litleskare Leine of the Christian youth magazine Itro noted that the instrumental track "Coming of the Dawn" was described by a reviewer as "praise without words".

[9] Metal Injection opined that the angel statue depicted on the 2005 re-release is a metaphor for how the band carved "a tribute to the divine" out of mostly hard and heavy music.