Dawn Treader – Bloom & Decay Review

By Itchymenace

I love black metal—especially when it’s drenched in an atmosphere that soars between heroic highs and guttural lows. But, finding quality records with dynamic songs that resonate with me on an emotional level can be harder than finding a needle in a Norwegian blizzard. Jorn knows I’ve dipped my scabbed hands into the sump numerous times only to pull out some third or fourth-generation Emperor copy put together by a couple of kids who are in 300 other bands that I’ve also never heard of. Patiently, I’ve waited for a band that has the hood-covered chops to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the great atmo-black bands I adore like Agalloch, Alcest, Panopticon and, dare I say, Deafheaven.1 So, it was as if Odin himself answered my prayers when Dawn Treader steered its mighty Saxon hull into my harbor with an album that’s as fierce, beautiful, stirring, and memorable as anything I’ve heard in the past several years. What makes this album such a gem? Direct your black gaze forward.

Dawn Treader is a “solo, anti-fascist black metal project” from London native, Ross Connell. Bloom & Decay is the project’s second release and the first to include vocals from Mr. Connell, who proves himself a formidable and impassioned vocalist. He balances urgency and angst with an emotional nuance that elevates the songs above most of his contemporaries. His opening shriek on “Idolator” is blood-curdling in the best sense, but he channels that rage into the verse with a near-melodic delivery that will put your heart in your throat. On his previous release, 2021’s The Burial of the Dead, any vocalizations came in the form of soundbites from poems, namely T.S. Elliot’s “Wasteland.” Bloom & Decay still benefits from plenty of carefully curated samples, but the vocals add a much-welcome dimension to the landscape.

The majority of Bloom & Decay is instrumental, but you hardly notice because the music has such a storytelling quality to it. To paraphrase the release notes, it takes you through the “cycles of life and death, grief and glory, hope and melancholy.” And while most black metal bands promise some form of this, Dawn Treader delivers in spades. The opening minutes of “Sunchaser” offer a prelude of everything to come with delicate melodies that intensify into heroic tremolos that feel victorious one moment and mournful the next. The track segues perfectly into “Idolator,” which somehow combines compelling black metal riffs with a crushing, metalcore-style breakdown and a finger-tapping guitar solo. It works, check it out! Listening to Bloom & Decay, you can’t help but feel that it is building up to something. That something is the title track and one of the most uplifting and inspiring songs I’ve ever heard. It’s a monster album closer that soars through some of the best, most melodic blackened guitar work you’ll hear. But, the coup de grace is the masterfully placed sample of Charles Bukowski’s “The Laughing Heart” as read by Tom Waits. The poem, which emphasizes how life’s soul-crushing lows can be offset by glimmering moments of light, perfectly delivers an emotional climax that makes you want to wipe your brow, catch your breath, flip the record and start over.

A big part of me wanted to give this record a 5.0 but the objective voice inside my head (and the thought of Steel’s boot on my neck) persuaded me to step back and reconsider. As good as the good stuff is, some areas could be trimmed. Curiously, the first single “Sky Burial,” resonates with me the least. “Iron Price,” with its heavily political and meandering “fuck you” speech may turn off some listeners, but the ferocity of the second half delivers serious chills reminiscent of Panopticon. While I love “The Oxbow Incident,” the Henry Fonda speech included before the final track delays rather than builds my excitement. Still, at 53 minutes, Bloom & Decay is right in the pocket for this sort of epic black metal.

Bloom & Decay not only contains amazing songs that celebrate the highs and lows of the human experience, but it also sounds great. It has a bright and punchy production that submerges you just beneath every cascading note and crashing tidal wave blast. For fans of black metal and certainly post-black metal, black gaze and atmo black (and whatever other hip genre you want to add) Dawn Treader has released a must-have record. Prepare to set sail for greatness!

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: Lossless (PCM)
Label: liminaldreadproductions.com
Website: dawntreaderuk.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 23rd, 2024

#40 #AtmophericBlackMetal #Aug24 #BlackMetal #Blackgaze #BloomDecay #DawnTreader #EnglishMetal #Review #Reviews #UKMetal

Krigsgrav – Fires in the Fall [Things You Might Have Missed Missed 2023]

By Doom_et_Al

Sometimes, first time’s a charm. Sometimes, third time. And sometimes, perseverance is rewarded and it’s the seventh. Such is the case with Dallas, Texas-based band, Krigsgrav. Operating quietly in the shadows since 2004, Krigsgrav have been producing atmospheric black metal that has, over time, become more deathly, more potent, more melodic. Now, with Fires in the Fall, they add a sprinkle of doom, and suddenly, everything clicks into place. Like smoke billowing into the air, Krigsgrav fill the sky, and you would be a fool to ignore their latest effort.

While Krigsgrav’s influences are clear, what separates the band is how beautifully those are combined to form a unique experience. Play a few songs for a few different metalheads and ask them what they’ve just listened to, and you’ll hear everything from “melodic death” to “atmospheric doom.” Krigsgrav take the blueprints of everyone from Agalloch, to Paradise Lost, and combine them into a whole that is epic, massive and catchy. The addition of doom lends the material weight that previous efforts have lacked. Songs like, “When I’m Gone, Let the Wolves Come,” and “The World We Leave Behind” are epic and fast, but become simply gigantic when things slow down, and beefy, burly riffs take over. Adding something so different to the mix was a risk, but one that has handsomely paid off.

The other impressive aspect of Fires in the Fall is how seamlessly the elements are chewing-gummed together. Songs will shift from furious black, to melodic death, to heavy doom, all within a few minutes (check out the crazily impressive “The Black Oak”), and it sounds natural and progressive. This eclectic shift, combined with a robust and clean production, results in an album that absolutely flies by. At 53 minutes, it is on the longer side, but trust me, you will barely notice.

With Fires in the Fall, Krigsgrav have stepped out of the shadows and created something potent and fierce, finding an aesthetic uniquely theirs. There’s a reason it was released in the North American Summer—the sound here is fiery. Think Vanum’s Ageless Fire or Kvaen’s The Funeral Pyre. It is also, weirdly, with it’s melodicism, an excellent companion piece to Fires in the Distance’s Air Not Meant for Us. Krigsgrav have come out of nowhere and created an album that people would just not shut up about. That sort of longevity among metalheads is rare and should be reason enough for you to take notice. I know you have probably finalized your end-of-year list, but if you haven’t at least considered Fires in the Fall, then, I’m afraid, it’s incomplete. This one burns hot.

Tracks to Check Out: “An Everflowing Vessel,” “The Black Oak,” “Journeyman”

#2023 #Agalloch #AtmophericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #FiresInTheFall #Krigsgrav #ParadiseLost #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023