"Dawn Of Eternity” are a German female-fronted metal band that is dedicated to melodic gothic death metal and comes from the Nuremberg metropolitan area. Their debut album “Guilty” combines Melodic Death, well, you can’t hear that much of “Death” except for the growls of guitarist Johannes Kittel and Gothic Metal. Musically, the band tries to play fast and a little harder, but unfortunately the overall Death package doesn't really work. Somehow the necessary bite seems to be missing. The unpretentious presentation of the disc is positive. There are no overproduced vocals or guitars and the drums also sound natural. This is not a given for gothic metal bands today, as bands from the US and A in particular have been delivering an almost pop sound for years. That does not exist here. It sounds like metal here. More metal than you expect.
"Dawn Of Eternity” were founded by singer Sara Seubert and guitarist Johannes Kittel as the successor band to “Buried Alive”. After their debut EP “Catastrome” was released in 2010, the band played concerts across Germany alongside “Peragon”, “Gates of Dawn”, “Amorticure”, “Saint Astray” and “Eden's Decay”, among others. “Dawn of Eternity” then worked on their debut album “Guilty”. Most of the music and some vocal parts had already been recorded in 2013. But singer Sara Seubert wanted to get the most out of her voice and so it finally took until February 2014 for “Guilty” to be released. “Dawn of Eternity” then toured continuously and, for example, supported the speed metallers “Lord Volture” at an event in Blatná, Czech Republic in October 2014.
“Guilty” impresses with its harder pace and Melodic Death Metal is joined by Sara Seubert's voice and Johannes Kittel's brutal growls. A band plays here whose energy, passion and joy of playing are evident from the first to the last second. But “Guilty” is also a bit long-winded. 16 songs provide over 75 minutes of music, but unfortunately there are no ideas to keep the listener engaged for that long. A certain monotony quickly sets in and after playing through the turntable several times, you are tempted to push the disc in order to at least create a bit of dynamism. But the sound is not only a bit boring, the album sounds half-baked in various places. Singer and pianist Sara Seubert doesn't hit every note vocally and her voice often breaks in the transitions, which doesn't seem too professional. For my taste, Sara sings higher than is appropriate for her vocal range and seems so artificial and pressed.
But even apart from the singing, “Dawn Of Eternity” doesn’t really cover itself with fame. Technically the instrumental side of the album may be okay, but too often it follows well-trodden paths. The band also arranged the songs on the album somewhat clumsily and thus always takes the wind out of their own sails. So at the end there is hardly anything left of the initial bite. It's a shame, because the picture that “Dawn Of Eternity” paints in some songs is quite something. You could build on that well. “Dawn Of Eternity” are not pathetic and epic enough for a female-fronted gothic metal band. Sara Seubert's singing comes into its own better when she lets her voice off the gothic leash and sings more “normally”, as in the title track “Guilty”, in the semi-ballad “Oceans” or in the quiet acoustic track “Fire”. For a melodic death metal album, “Guilty” clearly lacks the necessary oomph, the brutality, the goosebumps melodies and also the growls.
It's a shame, some tracks just don't work and just plod along at a steady pace. There are positive outliers in particular when drummer Torsten Ossowicki breaks out some breaks and polyrhythms, such as in “Cut Me Loose”, one of the best tracks on the album. In direct comparison to the EP “Catastrome”, a constant improvement can be seen, so that with a stronger contrast in musical styles and better production, there is definitely potential for a good follow-up album. Let's wait for the next record. Anyone who likes avant-garde music and melodic death/gothic metal is well served here, because some of the formation's approaches are quite groundbreaking, the big problem with the record is simply its length.
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Tracklist:
- Ego
- Goodbye
- Cut me loose
- amortization
- sing for me
- Guilty
- Blind my eyes
- No emotions
- You suck
- Oceans
- Fire
- The Storm
- Every time
- shame
- London
- My God My Foe
deluxe:
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