Dawn Of Winter

The Peaceful Dead

Written by: PP on 27/11/2008 13:18:19

Painfully slow song structures that are droning along purposelessly most of the time. If that doesn't sound attractive to you, you might as well stop reading now, because Dawn of Winter and their new album "The Peaceful Dead" contains a lot of painstaking slowness without purpose, basically doom metal for the uninformed. I don't usually have a problem with doom metal releases, but "The Peaceful Dead" pisses me off because the first track on the album is the second longest at just over 7 minutes, and it's also the worst track on the album if you ask me.

Having to go through seven minutes of intense boredom 'spiced' (yeah...about that...) with boring heavy-metal inspired vocals and nothing-saying riffs is a bit too much to ask for. The first good moment of the track arrives first around four minutes, when the guitars stop repeating the same riff for the Nth time and go for a miniature solo, for God's sake. Needless to say, my impression of the record is already ruined. "A Lovelorn Traveller" at least attempts a slightly more interesting riff composition, but here, too, it seems that the band is repeating the same riff just for the sake of repeating it, at least I can't see why they wouldn't want to make it a bit more interesting. But then again, it's not so much the riffs that are the problem rather than the stupid forced vibrato-vocals of singer Mutz - they are far from being any good.

By the time "Mourner" arrives, then we're into business people. The speed is kicked up a notch, the riff still isn't killer, but at least it isn't boring either, and in this way the song acts as the friendly soul who stops by a lonely highway to jump-start your car with a depleted battery. From here on, everything seems brighter in a sense, which in doom metal terms means bleaker really, but in a good way. "The Oath Of The Witch" is easily the best song on the record, it being the only one with any sort of passage that at least fills the basic characteristics of a chorus. Here, vocalist Mutz's angry "WITCH.... BITCH..." echoes depict an image of an old witch stomping forward slowly, but with the determination of a serial killer. Sounds pretty cool, eh? That's because it is.

The rest of the album drones with the same slow pace for the most part, with "Burn Another Sinner" being an exception with its groovy rock n roll riff. The atmosphere is 'mournful', if that means anything to you, but not very interesting overall I must say. There's too little variation in Mutz's vocals, and the repetitive riffs are just that, repetitive, to the point of annoyance. Now I realize that most doom metal is based on the same ingredients, but I've heard both good doom and bad doom, and Dawn Of Winter are definitely in the bad category.

4

Download: The Oath Of The Witch
For the fans of: Cold Mourning, Cathedral
Listen: Myspace

Release date 14.11.2008
Massacre Records

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