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Having
acquainted myself with some of the UK’s current black
metal bands via my review of the compilation UK Black
Metal Vol. 2 , I come to The Enlightenment with the
relief of knowing that it is written by one of the
region’s best. I know I didn’t give the region’s scene
high marks in my review
here, but amidst a
sea of copycats and downright lame acts Blooddawn proved
to be an intense act with a vicious sound, zero cheese
and no Cradle of Filth influence. Apparently, avoiding
all those traps in the black metal world ain’t no small
feat.
The
Enlightenment is Blooddawn’s second album of 2009. Maybe it is
that rigorous work ethic the one that has them writing songs at
a frenetic pace and that’s also reflected in the intensity of
their sound. From the start, the music of Blooddawn reveals
itself as fast and irreverent, muddy and astral and blackened
but with a few industrial tinges. The industrial part mostly
comes from the drum machine. I have never been a fan of the
usage of this instrument. It definitely takes some of the soul
away, but in the case of Blooddawn, the duo use it as an
advantage to lock in hyper tempos that hammer away music that’s
timed like a Swiss clock. Clearly, Blooddawn aren’t into
being a dynamic band. They aren’t searching for changes. The
songs start and end in third gear.
But what the
duo lacks in flexibility they more than make up with an
astringent sound. The pace of the songs is fast crazy, the
guitars form a rumbling wave of low sounds that’s rampant and
only discernible to those who dare sit and appreciate the
brutality within. In “Circle of Stars”, if you hear
well, in the distance, deep within the clusterfuck of cacophony
you can hear a guitar solo here and there. Elsewhere, the music
of Blooddawn is like a tsunami, so powerful and overwhelming it
lifts and carries everything it encounters. And I say that in
an almost literal sense; the loudness of these tunes seems like
such an overload that the comparison is only natural.
I enjoyed
the vocals a whole lot. Donn from Teutoburg Forest is in charge
of them and they have a distinctive, albeit not too out there,
edge. The man sounds almost hungry for blood and alive. Truly
vicious and crazed. He is rough and brutal, somewhere between a
death metal growl and the necroticism of a good ol’ forest
dwelling Satanist. The combination is fitting.
I would really
like to see what this band can do next. Will they get out of the
one tempo mode? Will they use live drums? If so, then the
proverbial sky may be the limit. For now, they can rest
confident, that compared to most of their paisanos they proudly
stand tall.
Official Site
MySpace
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