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Dark at Dawn > Dark at Dawn > Reviews
Dark at Dawn - Dark at Dawn

At least it's an ethos, Dude - 45%

naverhtrad, November 11th, 2021

I remember someone recommended Dark at Dawn to me as a band in the same mode as Evergrey and Tad Morose, that is to say ballsy heavy metal with progressive stylings. I can’t remember who actually did recommend this band to me, which is a shame. Because I’m looking to hit them over the head with a baseball bat now.

The best way to describe Dark at Dawn, at least if this self-titled album is anything to go by, is this. Imagine Grave Digger – but then strip out all of the historical allusions, introspective and religious themes. Lyrically, replace those things with weird numerological references, navel-gazing emo-type lyrics – and then throw a couple of Sabaton-styled war ballads near the end to make up for it. And then make almost all the compositions fit the mould of a kind of sentimental mid-80s pop rock in the style that 92 KQRS likes putting on in the mid-afternoon. In terms of tempo and musical style, though: you’ve got the gruff Chris Boltendahl-style singing, the crisp speed-metallic guitarwork and drums, the crunch and squeal of that ‘certain’ style of European power metal to which Evergrey and Tad Morose do belong as well. Everything is in place here for a band whose work I should like. But after listening to it the way Jeff Lebowski did to the disjointed non sequitur eulogy Walter Sobchak gave to Donny, all I can say is: ‘God damn you, Dark at Dawn, you fucking assholes! Everything’s a fucking travesty with you, man!

It’s not quite a complete train wreck, that’s the thing which makes this review so frustrating. These guys know how to deliver a catchy speed metal hook – that’s clear from the get-go. ‘The Alliance’ sees them start off strong in ‘a lightning rain’ with some Tolkien-inspired dark fantasy apocalypticism. So far, so killer! Torsten Sauerbrey in particular is a maniac on those drums. We get to hear that catchiness and run-amok drumwork again on ‘The Glorious Duty’ toward the end of the album. And even ‘Darkened Dawn’, for all the dorkiness of putting your band name in the title of a song on a self-titled album like this, does have a certain charm to it. There’s technical genius aplenty here, it’s just a shame to hear it wasted on an effort so pointless… and that becomes clear as soon as ‘Avalon’ comes on.

‘Avalon’ is emblematic of what’s wrong with Dark at Dawn as a whole. Sappy, sentimental, treacly, dripping with the worst tendencies of industrially-produced paint-by-numbers Nashville country music and the most egregious ‘sensitive-male’ tendencies of radio-friendly American ‘80s AOR, ‘Avalon’ tries to ride it off by relying on a poppy melody that’s almost insulting with how lazy it is. It quickly becomes clear after this that this is a theme. ‘The Passage’ also sounds horribly phoned-in, and has the same lazy, emotionally-manipulative, artificial, ‘canned’ feel to it. The fact that Kohlrausch’s vocals are clearly ill-suited to this style of music doesn’t seem to stop them from pulling out all the stops, though.

There are flashes of brilliance that shine through. ‘Crossbreed’ and its down-and-dirty biker-rock riff had me legit banging my head, even though the main melody was still in dumbed-down pop mode. On ‘Fearless’ and ‘The Ones with Fiery Eyes’ it sounds like Dark at Dawn might have found their balls again briefly: both those songs do kick ass, and if you aren’t singing right along with ‘We know how to take a life / But we don’t know how to sleep at night’, there may be something wrong with your hand-held metal-detector. ‘The Ones with Fiery Eyes’ in particular has that melodic bridge in the last minute that really gets your head up. But then the album closes off with a quasi-folk metal / Viking metal number in ‘Sons of the Sea’, almost an afterthought on this album, that even though it’s technically proficient and suitably heavy, still leaves a weird taste in your mouth as it fades out.

If Dark at Dawn had released this as an EP with the four rock-solid power metal tracks on here (‘The Alliance’, ‘Fearless’, ‘The Ones with Fiery Eyes’, ‘The Glorious Duty’), I’d be giving it a 17 or an 18. But I can’t ignore the whole misguided section in the middle that had me just shaking my head in frustration. Ultimately, Dark at Dawn have this problem where they’re Walter Sobchak, but without the ironic distance that watching The Big Lebowski can provide. On the one hand, they’re clearly ready to shout you down, stand you down and kick your ass in the bowling alley parking lot, and maybe tear off an ear or two. But at the same time, they’re equally likely to embarrass you. They might start belting out about their freedom of speech rights down at the diner, fling their dirty underwear out the window of your speeding car, or bring their ex-wife’s terrier with them wherever they go and waxing sentimental about a religion they clearly don’t believe in. Musically speaking, Dark at Dawn are clearly capable of delivering crushing riffs, and bowling you over with killer melodies. There are all the elements of a great heavy metal album here, but they’re wasted on these lowest-common-denominator radio-rock numbers that sound almost phoned-in. Maybe this is a style-preferences problem. But by the end of the album I kept shaking my head and saying, ‘No, no, you’re not wrong. You’re not wrong, Thorsten—you’re just an asshole.’

9 / 20

Underrated album from an underrated band - 80%

TrooperOfSteel, August 2nd, 2011

It is with great sadness that I must start this review of the latest Dark At Dawn CD by telling you that this will be the last Dark At Dawn CD. The German dark power metal band announcing the split-up shortly after this release, and it’s a damn shame too. The band were never popular in the metal world, never received any press (good or bad) and had line-up problems for the last few years, but yet were such an awesome band. It’s a pity that they have split-up before receiving their well deserved dues.

For those learning about Dark At Dawn for the first time now, the band’s vocalist Thorsten “Buddy” Kohlrausch created the band back in 1993 and is (was) the heart and soul of the band. His voice is very unique and great to listen to. The only 2 people I could barely compare his voice to, is a combination of Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead and a deeper sounding version of Udo Dirkschneider from U.D.O./Accept.

‘Dark at dawn’ is the band’s 4th (and final) CD, and in my opinion, their best too. Dark At Dawn play a darker side of true power metal, and are similar to bands like early Savatage and Virgin Steele. What you hear is just straightforward crunchy and melodic guitars, lots of heavy bass, all mixed with technical drumming and Buddy’s gruff but passionate vocals making the songs sound so much better.

As I mentioned before, I believe ‘Dark at dawn’ is their best CD. The reasons for this are the better production on the CD (and the previous CD), after the band joined AFM Records after being with Iron Glory Records. This CD is probably their most consistent of the 4, the songwriting being their strongest and most creative. My picks for the better tracks on the CD include the fantastic heavy ballad “Avalon”, the melodic “Roses of light”, the thundering “Road to eternity”, “The ones with fiery eyes” and the short but sweet rocker “Fearless”.

Overall, I really like this CD. Considering the pressure the band was under with an unstable line-up since their 2nd full-length CD (‘Crimson frost’) and being able to keep going knowing they had a small fanbase, is just fantastic. One thing I should mention is that the drummer, Torsten Sauerbrey (an original member of the band), also did the guitars on this CD. He also had double duty on Dark At Dawn’s 3rd CD, ‘Of decay and desire’.

So if you are into power metal, in the true sense of the word, I strongly urge you to not only pick up this latest CD, but also their previous CDs; ‘Baneful skies’ (1999), ‘Crimson frost’ (2001), ‘Of decay and desire’ (2003) and also ‘First beams of light’ (2002), which is a compilation CD where they have re-recorded all songs from their 2 demo CDs and their EP (originally done between 1993-1995).

Farewell, Dark At Dawn... you will be missed...

Originally reviewed for www.metalcdratings.com

It's Dark at Dawn But Without the Drawbacks - 96%

lord_ghengis, March 7th, 2010

When a band decides to trim down their sound, it usually has very poor results, usually representing an attempt at commercialisation. The final release by Dark at Dawn is certainly an effort to simplify their sound, but surprisingly they've done it well, and have actually made an album that surpasses everything in their past. What they've done is remove pretty much every element of their music which didn't rule. Chug riffs? Gone. Restrained vocals? Gone. Silly lead guitar tone? Gone. This album is extremely easy to describe. In fact, the only good thing that’s missing is the female vocals. It's nothing but fast, straightforward riffs, with catchy hooks and powerful vocals. Even the ballads retain the catchy hooks and huge vocals. It doesn't deviate and that’s what is so awesome about it.

Dark at Dawn have always had a fairly varied sound, at it's core was straight up face stomping seriously heavy power metal, but there were little manilla road-isms and attempts at grandeur to mix things up. The music was still good, but as it turns out, everything they did to mix it up was never quite as good as when they just went ahead and sucker punched you right in the balls. This album has had all of that extra weight stripped from it, and the overall quality of the album is much higher than anything they've ever done before. Of course, on the other albums, there were times where they got it right, like with Warriorqueen, and sadly the good on the album doesn't quite get that good. But there aren't any Maid of Stone's or 5th Horseman's either, and overall the album blows away all of their previous works.

There isn't really a lot to say about the music on offer here. It's split into two main sounds, one is fast, simplistic and memorable 'dark' power metal, and the other are the slower songs, which are delivered with enough crushing riffs to not really count as out and out ballads. The former is certainly the stronger style, but apart from The Passage none of these semi-ballad tracks are actually poor. That's basically the whole album summed up right there. It is just as simple as it sounds, but the hooks are so infectious, the drums so energetic and the vocals so outstanding that it doesn't need to do anything else.

The guitar riffs are simple, but never really touch on the standard modern trappings of resorting the chugs like they had in the past. There are minimal leads or solos and power chords are virtually unheard outside of the slower tracks. It's just riff after headbanging riff and it just dominates. They have always been the strongest element of Torsten Sauerbrey's guitar work and they are literally all the band has on the album. This is the mindset of the album; everything that doesn't kick ass gets thrown away.

Vocalist Thorsten Kohlrausch has always been a favourite of mine in power metal. Aside from the general lack of flowery melodies and happy clap along 80's rock vibes from the guitar work, his deep, hoarse bellow is what has earned the band their 'dark' power metal label. In the past, he's always attempted to show some range, with a restrained verse here, and a whispered bridge there, but his drawing card has always been his big theatrical howls. Just like Sauerbrey dropped all of his guitar techniques that weren't up to scratch, Kohlrausch has dropped everything apart from his full power majestic vocals. And it works so well, he has the power to give the aggressive songs such as Crossbreed and The Alliance all the violence they want and deserve, and his vocal lines are theatrical enough to both remain interesting while being at full volume the whole time, and make the ballad tracks exciting. Even his lyrics are theatrical and epic, generally staying away from the subjects that get the genre ridiculed, whist still staying fitting enough for power metal. His vocal lines are exquisite, and every song has its own unique memorable chorus which will get stuck your head for weeks.

This is an album with no bells and whistles, but you know what, the bells and whistles never suited Dark at Dawn. They wanted to fit in with all their power metal friends, but the fact is they're just a great big riff monster who just happen to want to play power metal instead of thrash. This is power metal that goes for the throat, and it suits the band perfectly, it's a pity they broke up here, because they had found their perfect sound on this release.

Warning: Will Kick Your Ass - 90%

Empyreal, February 29th, 2008

Do you like old Jag Panzer? Liege Lord? Accept? Running Wild? If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, then I would strongly advise upon picking up Dark at Dawn. This self titled release was the most recent from resident German war machine Dark at Dawn, and also sadly their last. For those familiar with their crunchy, riff-tastic style of Power Metal, let me just assure you that little has changed, stylistically, from the excellent Of Decay and Desire in 2003. It's actually really frustrating to try and write a review for an album like this, since it's so simplistic and straightforward that there's not a whole I can say that wouldn't be a paraphrased version of "This rules, go get it!"

I think the songs here are a tad more simplistic than the ones on the last album, though, lacking most of the Savatage comparisons I mentioned in my review for that one, but just a tad. There's no huge decline in songwriting power, but this album is a lot more stomp-stomp and "Metal" without the overall classy songwriting finesse that Of Decay and Desire boasted. The focus is more on the guitars than the vocals here, and oh boy do the riffs on Dark at Dawn fucking slay. Seriously, if you're a connoisseur of Metal riffs, then give this album a spin and be in Heaven. The guitar tone is razor-sharp, like a buzzsaw slicing into your bowels, while Buddy Kohlrausch's deep bellow narrates the apocalypse all around your bloodied form. Perhaps all that is hyperbole, but if you want an album that will kick your ass without a second thought, THIS IS IT. I think this is the style Dark at Dawn were shooting for all along, and while I don't like it quite as much as the magical combination of musical elements present on the previous album, I can't deny the majesty of this one.

I do have one minor complaint, though, and it's about the ballads here. Dark at Dawn have always written excellent ballads, as is shown on songs like "Dragon Tears," "Across the Oceans of Time" and "Rose of Tears." on previous albums, but the ones on this album fall flat. I'd say it's due to the slightly rawer guitar tone, but even then, I've heard bands who can write damn fine ballads with sharper and more coarse guitar tones than this one, so it's puzzling. Don't get me wrong, "Avalon" and "The Passage" are good songs, but lackluster when coming from a band that usually writes ballads of such high caliber. Disappointing.

For standout tracks, opener "The Alliance" is undeniably the best song Dark at Dawn ever wrote. It's barely even 3 minutes long, but it packs enough power to topple the Statue of Liberty, with a stomping, head-smashing main riff and a triumphant shoutalong chorus which, unless you're a total poser, will get your head flailing and your fist in the air before you even realize what happened. "Crossbreed" and "Fearless" are two more head-stompers, and "Sons of the Sea" is a mini epic in its own right that is worth the time it takes to grow on you. Most of the rest of the songs here are great too, but like every Dark at Dawn album, there are a few fillers. I suppose no band can avoid that pitfall.

Overall, this is another very strong effort from Dark at Dawn, and it is probably their last (they're supposedly "on hold" right now). It's a damned shame when good bands like this fizzle out into nothing while joke bands like Metalium and Rhapsody continue to take the spotlight. Hell, though, better to stop making music after 4 quality albums then to keep going and eventually sell out or weaken in style. Farewell, Dark at Dawn.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com