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Troglodyte Dawn > Troglodyte Dawn > Reviews
Troglodyte Dawn - Troglodyte Dawn

A breath of fresh air [edited] - 79%

Orion_Crystal_Ice, June 26th, 2004

From a dark, peculiar cave deep in the underground comes a sound that swirls with raw, old-school hard rock/metal guitar playing, nature oriented soundscapes, Black Sabbath-y quirkyness, and a misty, damp, calming spiritual atmosphere. Exploring further, cautiously, you discover the perpertrator of the odd, obscure music billowing gently out of the cave like a child's fireworks: The friendly neighborhood... TROG!

Troglodyte Dawn is an independant, one-man-band project by singer/multi instrumentalist Randy Michaud, that marries classic 70's/early 80's doom metal to earthy ambient and acoustic textures with ease. The songs on the self titled debut album work like a well worn cycle, providing an atmospheric intro followed by a slice of earthy, semi progressive doom-inspired metal, followed by another instrumental and yet another change of pace in one of many eclectic pieces of solid, lyrically introspectful songwriting.
Opener 667 is one of the best examples of this, with some storm effects and light, light, curious sounding melodies sprinkled about, projecting something of a vintage Yes vibe, before concluding into the 9 minute doomer Fallen World (including 'Human Race'). The Black Sabbath-meets-Yes-meets-a damp cave feeling is in full force here, with Randy's vocals narrating a simple yet effective story of the plights of mankind, and the logical solution found within God's love. The guitar makes it's first appearance here, and while not the best production-wise, it's well heard and the rawness gives the sound an individual kind of charm, which work well within the faster middle section and the solo. The old school doom melodies utilized throughout the album work extremely well here, with Randy's midrange, bell-toned singing and the underlying bass riff making up the backbone of the song. Redeemed is next and is an almost playful sounding, yet soulfully performed rock worship song with some fake crowd noise. Longing is the second instrumental, and sports a spacey sounding, infectious acoustic guitar lick that repeats itself tastefully and serves as another intro for the next song, which is an odd but good cover of Black Sabbath's song After Forever, re-titled Forever After. The song stays true to the original with the exception of the somewhat altered lyrics, which are somewhat more positive in some places, such as the ending line reverted to 'It's never too late', from 'I think it's too late'. Michaud's vocals here also surpass Ozzy Osbourne's original singing at times, while not entirely adapted from Osbourne's style, Randy still pays tribute and manages to assume his own voice. Despite the quality of the song, however, after repeated listens it's hard to help feeling like another song could have been placed here instead to keep up the album's overall feeling a little better, and the same applies with Redeemed.

Around the middle of the album is where the journey of the music seems to become fully progressing. Flower is a wonderful, all acoustic song of faith with an amazing atmosphere thanks to creative chord choices and a somewhat odd time signature, topped off with a great retro sounding keyboard solo. The song seems to kick off a somehow more serious, atmospheric side of the album that, after Dood, a wacky little minute instrumental with some digeridoo parts, climaxes with Lust (including 'Testimony' and 'Droon'). Though two songs procede Lust, the song is the longest on the album at nearly 11 minutes and the marker where the 'journey' starts to really slow before the last two songs setting the listener down gently, affirming that each song is carefully placed to provide the necessary atmosphere for the trip that is Troglodyte Dawn's debut. The last three songs are all high quality material, Lust being an excellently written traditional doom epic sporting the best guitar work on the album, and very personal, uplifting lyrics dealing with the problem of pornography addiction ("Here it comes again, through my dreams through my eyes/Fatal attraction, I admire, I despise"). Lust merges perfectly into Look On The Cross, a purely spiritual sounding song in both music and lyrics, the lazy clean guitar and distorted bass contrast carrying the memorable, earthy sounding chorus melody pointing to Jesus Christ, within a euphoric sphere of swirling, atmospheric slow rock. Dawn closes the album much like it began, with soft, nature oriented sounds that bring to mind older Tangerine Dream compositions, but with a feeling of the closure of a good book to be re-read many times more in the future, just to experience the journey.

Though it seems too short, and once in a while awkward in song list, Troglodyte Dawn's debut, from artwork to music to lyrical themes, is an inspired, truly realized vision of a fresh and individual style that can only improve in the future. There's true substance to be found here, a delving into a whole other world, a peaceful, spiritual, sometimes haunting, and often alien world that should not be overlooked.