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Abysmal Dawn > From Ashes > Reviews
Abysmal Dawn - From Ashes

A phenomenal debut - 97%

Fueled by sex, March 31st, 2013

There are a few bands today that deserve so much praise, and Abysmal Dawn are one of those few bands. They deserve to be among the high ranks of death metal gods such as Suffocation, Gorguts, Obituary, Death and Carcass to name a few. This album is very inspiring and has a lot of heavy melodic brutality to it. I'm surprised that there aren't multiple reviews for this album, considering how true it is to the death metal scene. There is nothing stupid, bad or cheesy about this album. A lot of effort was put into it. The production is good, everything sounds good, and I like the atmosphere that the band was able to create. Abysmal Dawn are original and have a distinct sound like no other. I can't think of any flaws except that there are a couple recycled, bland riffs, but that's about it. The vocalist/lead guitarist/songwriter, Charles Elliott, shows good musicianship with cool harmonic minor lead guitar work and heavy riffs accompanied by his incredible songwriting ability and a powerful voice. His growls are brutal, and his high shrieks are sick, and it fits well with the music. He's one of my favorite vocalists, and his voice puts the lame deathcore and metalcore vocalists to shame. Not only does he make great metal music, but he even looks metal.

I like the feel that the band was able to create with the solos and melody. Terry Barajas did an excellent job on the drums, giving a good sense of purpose to them that I really enjoyed, and I'm a guitarist. I liked the drums a lot, they have a good pace to them with a proper amount of double bass and awesome, sheer brutality fills. The other guitarist, Jamie Boulanger, did a good job displaying his soloing capabilities. The solos are excellent, with a middle eastern sound to it, props to the harmonic minor scale that he uses just like Charles, as I've mentioned before. Much respect to these musicians, they play their instruments well. For being a straight up death metal band, they got a lot of creativity and I never got bored listening to this album, which is something that great albums possess.

It's hard to say which track is my favorite, cause they're all great. "In The Hands Of Death" is a killer track after the instrumental "Impending Doom" and "Blacken The Sky" is a good melodic heavy song. "Salting The Earth" and "Servants To Their Knees" are the most brutal tracks on here in my opinion. All of the tracks on here kick ass. Some of them are technical too, but not to the point where it takes the heaviness and brutality away.

If you're looking for a new band to get into, especially if you're looking for some fresh, original kick ass death metal, then I recommend you to get this album, you won't be disappointed. It is the best modern death metal release and one of the best I've ever heard. I stand strong with this album and band. No poser bullshit with this band whatsoever.

Not bad, not great - 79%

BastardHead, February 9th, 2009

Admittedly, I am a sucker for generic Brutal Death Metal. Abysmal Dawn is one of those bands that do absolutely nothing different, yet plays the style so competently that there isn't much to complain about. Of course, there are the Human Filleted type of bands (the kind that rip off Suffocation to the point of tedium), but I find that bands like this one can usually play with enough ferocity and intensity to make me overlook the obvious similarities.

Most of these songs follow the same basic idea and contain the same basic ingredients, but the band bakes such a damn fine cake that I really wouldn't ask for much else. Every song contains a Suffocation-style groove at some point, the low vocals are reminiscent of Mads Haarløv while the higher ones remind me somewhat of a higher David Vincent, and the drumming is a nice Pete Sandoval-type mixture of relentless blast beats and tasteful fills. If there is anything that helps set Abysmal Dawn apart from the hordes of similar bands, it's that there is a slight modern tinge in the riffage. It's kind of hard to explain, but there is a certain latent groove underneath the typical Death Metal riffs that reflect the current time somewhat. Listen to the opening of "In the Hands of Death" or the middle section of "State of Mind". This actually doesn't hinder the music that much, and they can usually pull it off rather well, but the similarity to them and some of the riffs on Black Dahlia Murder's first album are rather striking.

The biggest problem here though, is repetition. There is no denying that they know what they are doing, and are certainly a competent group of musicians, but I'm just not so sure about their writing abilities. None of these songs suck, but "Salting the Earth" uses a riff damn near identical to the first one of "In the Hands of Death". The similarity to Black Dahlia Murder hits home once again here, when you realize that a majority of these riffs are just reworked versions of the first few. This could be a sticking point for some, but for me it's just a minor point of contention. I would usually say that hopefully the band could improve on the next record, but Abysmal Dawn's newest album, Programmed to Consume fell victim to the trend of becoming more and more technical, thus sacrificing songwriting in the process. So From Ashes may well end up being the band's finest hour, and it's an acceptable, if derivative, slice of Death Metal.

Originally written for www.metalcrypt.com