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Dawn > Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) > Reviews
Dawn - Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)

My christmas soundtrack - 90%

Mikesch Lord, February 26th, 2024

Oh my, these riffs on Slaughtersun. This shit is so incredibly bleak, grey, depressed and depressing, hopeless, desperate, tortured by guilt, grief and regret. Extreme metal was never a child of sweet summer sunshine but Dawn took every ounce of pumped up defiance out of the equation and started riffing the skin from their listerner's bodies. These guitars hypnotize you into a trance of final exhaustion by skipping the heroic pagan parts of black metal sculptures and going straight to the heart of pain ridden and monotone melodies that want nothing to do with folk, epicness, harsh declarations or satanic worlduilding anymore. These guitar riffs actually hurt your soul because they know about your pain like you wouldn't believe. They are memorable but not really catchy. Or let me put it like this: They are not catchy in an uplifting way. "Night's Blood" by Dissection stuck in everyone's ear because it kept the emotional fanfare of a good Iron Maiden song. Slaughtersun will be rembered by your brain like a hot bullet that just went through your neocortex.

The drums are wonderfully rich and full in tone, unobstructed by norwegian mush whirlwinds that tend to blend everything together into one big chaotic storm (I am not against something like that, but this mixing technique just would have taken something away from THIS album in particular). The washed-out tremolo guitars still maintained their articulate clarity and the vocals are not that hard to decipher if you invested the ten minutes it takes to look up the teen angst lyrics in the booklet. Slaughtersun is a very straight and clean album in that regard but it does not exhale an inch of commercial intent. The drama just needed this specific auditory stage, nothing more or less. The screams on this album are adhering to the genre rules but go beyond the enchanted crypt coolness of most of their competition. They seem to operate just a tiny distance away from an actual meltdown and that feels much darker and more dangerous than the shrill but still militaristic heathen dancing on Helheim's debut (which remains one awesome asskicking viking metal album for all eternity by the way!). Slaughtersun always felt like Dawn where actually pretty close to losing their shit.

Swedish black metal from the nineties was always operating with a forward barrage of power, aggression and vitality. Dawn are no exception from that formula but they used all the ingredients to talk about something that is strangely distant from all the genre's proud exemplifications of grandeur and offense. Dawn talk about sadness and mourning, the tears before the end and the whining of a mentally crippled human being that has been mercilessly defeated by society's cold expectations, sterile maneurisms and brutal rules of materialism, conformity and total emotional annihilation. There is not much rage or aggression on this album because the despair outshines every other fragment of mental defense mechanisms. Yes, you get your blasts, your screams, your tragic tremolo riffs, your double bass patterns and your acoustic pickings with the occasional choir synths on top. But Slaughtersun was never really about that because sadness just needs an outlet and Dawn were the tool for the time. I am not sure if this is art or a therapy session gone off the rails, but I am regularly returning to it because most metal bands sing about the abyss without knowing what the fuck they are talking about. Dawn know. They somehow have always known. Depression is never how you imagined it would be. It's way worse.

A Brutal and Haunting Journey Through Blackened Death Metal - 100%

MurderArt, April 24th, 2023
Written based on this version: 1998, CD, Necropolis Records (US)

Dawn's "Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)" is a blackened death metal masterpiece that delivers an incredibly cool epic feeling throughout its long, brutal and melodic tracks. The songs are heavy and intense, with quality death growls that maintain the omnipresent spiteful atmosphere, while the guitar riffs create a black metal feeling that blends perfectly with the melodic elements.

The album's production is crisp and finely tuned, with a perfect mix of the drums and a damn nice, crisp guitar tone. The vocals, delivered by Henrik "Henke" Forss, are some of the best black metal shrieks ever and are definitely his best work to date. The lyrics are dark and misanthropic, expressing a negative view of humans and their pathetic actions on earth.

While some may argue that the album lacks variety, it's not much of an issue when the music is this good. The epic feeling of the album is especially evident in the song "Ride the Wings of Pestilence," which tells a tale about the world during the grip of the plague. The keyboards and acoustic guitars that join in at certain moments add a haunting element to the music, while the blast-beat contagious and double-bass addicted drumming fits the music perfectly.

Overall, "Slaughtersun" is a masterpiece of blackened death metal, taking up the torch where Dissection left it and carrying it on throughout the years. Dawn is one of the best blackened death metal bands ever, and this album is their absolute best in every possible way. Anyone who loves brutal and melodic metal should definitely own a copy of this album.

Unmatched Masterpiece - 100%

slaughtersun97, October 31st, 2020
Written based on this version: 1998, CD, Necropolis Records (US)

When I think of Dawn “Evolution and Perfection” come to mind. These guys evolved every single release that they did. Dawn were not trying to sound like anybody else, they were just trying out do what they did last and it totally shows. Slaughtersun is the peak of their Discography and last material that they released. Naturally we want more from the band, but there is no denying they left on a strong note.

Slaughtersun is Black Metal perfection in my honest opinion. There is not a single album that comes close to sounding like it. Everybody always relates Lord Belial, Dissection, Sacramentum, etc. But these bands are completely different. Dawn captured a distinct sound that nobody else had or will ever have. It took me a long time to accept this as I searched high and low for similar material. This album will take MANY listens to fully grasp its perfection. The intense and fast musical arrangements are extremely difficult to comprehend with only one or two listens. All members of Dawn really display how creative and advanced they are with their roles as they form this EPIC masterpiece of Metal. Each song leads right into the next and never lets you rest, this can go on forever and sound totally normal if you let the album cycle over and over.

It’s very easy to notice that Dawn’s music is something truly remarkable even on a first listen. Slaughtersun has a flawless production throughout and flawless production for black metal in the 90s was not common at all. Even though the music itself is explosive and chaotic, it’s still precise and clear. There is some awesome and original guitar work done on this album (lead,rhythm,bass). Absolutely brilliant tremolo picking with hypnotic riffs that will get stuck in your head forever, the riffs that were written for this album are something you’ve never heard before and won’t hear on any other album. These guys were beyond the point of creative with the stringed arrangements. One thing that does get mentioned when this album is brought up is the crazy drumming. It’s a standout for sure...awesome technical and blasting drums that compliment the guitars and vocals perfectly, a good example of accuracy and speed. I always loved the vocals on Slaughtersun because they’re not super high pitched or annoying. You will see that the vocals have a very strong and hateful feel to them. As the emotion and intensity grows stronger with the instruments, the same thing happens with the vocals...this is just extremely satisfying and hard to find in any genre. This album is the one and only Apocalypse Symphony!

It’s really awesome to see the diverse backgrounds of the musicians kick into action. Specifically with Fredrik (Lead Guitars) and Henke (Vocals). Fredrik comes from a background of Thrash/Speed Metal and Shredding solo acts, then Henke comes from a Death Metal and Grindcore background. All of these roots show up in Slaughtersun which makes this extremely unique and different from all Black Metal recordings. Another impressive trait of this album is that you will not find any themes of Satan, Forrests, or Vikings in their music which is pretty much what all Black Metal albums were based on. A prime example of originality with Dawn and their attitude of just making incredible music and not following trends.

Dawn will always be my favorite band and Slaughtersun will always be my favorite album. I find it very hard to put into words what this album has done for me and the impact it’s had on my life. Do yourself a big favor and give it a chance, listen at least 3-5 times to truly understand the monumental music that you’re witnessing. Thanks for reading and enjoy the album !

The soundtrack to the forever setting sun - 99%

tomcat_ha, November 28th, 2019
Written based on this version: 2014, CD, Century Media Records (Reissue, Remastered, EU)

Melodic black metal is a bit odd. Usually it’s either really good or really bad. The good and bad albums are pretty much completely distinct stylistically. Maybe this says something about my bias and taste but really how can anyone like those wimpy, fruity, cheesy vampire black metal albums. Okay I dig early Satyricon but that is about as far as I go with that niche. No, in my opinion the vastly superior style of melodic black metal is quite different from the Ancient’s of this world. No, I am more interested in that other form of melodic black metal of which Slaughtersun is in my opinion its crowning achievement. Yes, I consider it better than the classic albums released by Dissection, Vinterland, Sacramentum and others. I assume you the reader knows the albums made by the aforementioned, even though Dissection massively overshadows the others in terms of popularity. Luckily in recent years some of these other classic records including Slaughtersun have been getting some very deserved recognition.

People tend to compare every melodic black metal album with Dissection’s classics. However I find that in most of these cases this is pretty misplaced and Slaughtersun is a good example. Slaughtersun takes the melodic side of Norwegian black metal and expands upon it. Think of Emperor, Ulver and such. There is a very strong emphasis on creating a very cold, big and merciless atmosphere on this record. They achieve this with a couple tools, first of all with a “good” sound. The production and mixing were both obviously precisely calculated to make sure the album has its crushing atmosphere. The guitars sound as cold as any ice can get. The riffs do not refer to traditional metal much nor do they to the death metal roots of this band. The melodies are folkish as often seen in Scandinavian black metal. The riffs and leads usually are pretty drawn out and get repeated a lot. The drumming really locks it all down by pretty mercilessly holding down the beat. Jocke sometimes switches between different styles of blast beats or switches to absolutely thundering double kick runs. Just listening to the endless and pulverizing double kick work in the first track alone makes my legs feel fatigued. Henke the vocalist does a stellar job as well, he truly sounds like an impartial yet malignant spirit of the glaciers. The bass guitar is not very noticeable at first, this is because the synths partly have taken over its job. The synths are not super obvious but are pretty much always there in the background playing the root notes. The bass is actually a bit more active but gets pushed a bit more into the background. All these elements combine to create a record that just sounds so big. Some people would say that this album is too long and not varied enough but I think they miss the point. Because this records intent is to punish not by having a lot of fast paced aggressive riffs but just by driving its point home like a glacier carves out a valley.

Slaughtersun was the last of the classic stretch of melodic black metal albums released in the 90’s. While the other forms of black metal have seen artistically very valid additions since the heyday of black metal, we haven’t seen much of that for this style of black metal. It is like bands just did not even really bother to try. Which I get because I personally find Slaughtersun not an inspiring but an intimidating and draining album. I never feel like grabbing my own guitar after listening but instead have to recuperate a bit for a moment even after all these years.

Melodic black metal with atmospheric proportions. - 76%

ConorFynes, July 17th, 2015

Whenever I've asked folks for music recommendations, Dawn, and their final album Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) tends to get mentioned at a far more frequent rate than I'd expect from a record that's now close to twenty years old. My speakers have been ablaze lately with Sacramentum and Vinterland, so it's been propitious to continue by Swedish melodic black metal hit parade with an album I should, by every right, have checked out years ago.

Dawn weren't the only band around to traverse the incestuous ridge between death and black metal, but they're one of the few that made their transition smoothly. Their debut Nær sólen gar niþer for evogher was an impressive observation that caught the Second Wave on its ass-end. Come Dawn's complete realization of their black metal destiny with Slaughtersun however, the so-called golden age was over. Black metal (particularly from the Scandinavian reaches) was in for a bit of an overhaul, a greater part Dødheimsgard than Immortal, and even stalwarts like Mayhem were dipping their wicks in all manners of spooky industrial fuckery. That Slaughtersun came out in a post-Storm of the Light's Bane world is no question; it's not likely Dawn would have been writing music like this five years prior. Regardless, Slaughtersun distinguished itself from a lot of its experimental contemporaries by the sense that they weren't trying to flourish their music with bells and whistles. The songs, however long and intense, are fairly simple by design. This has been seen to give Slaughtersun a sort of timeless quality, even if I get the impression the band have overstayed their welcome by album's end.

Slaughtersun is straightforward, and relatively clean compared with Dawn's other album. Though these songs consistently taunt the ten minute mark (though rarely overcoming it) they forego Burzum-variety minimalism in favour of fast-paced, guitar-fuelled melodic songwriting with a terminal case of chorus fetishism. They draw standard songwriting out to expansive lengths. In a normal case, I'd prefer to hear a band be economical with their time, especially if they're sticking to a relatively narrow wave-band stylistically. I don't think Dawn are entirely out of the foxhole in that respect, but the quality of their riffs and soaring atmosphere make the song lengths worthwhile. I'd consider using the term 'epic' to describe the effect they were going for here if the word hadn't already been run into the mantle of the Earth. In any case, Dawn's reinvention of self can be effectively summarized as having taken the songwriting conventions of the Swedish melodic sound with the patient scope regularly associated with atmospheric black metal. Unlike some of the album's better-weathered fans, I'm not sure the pairing really works, but I am certain that Dawn bring enough spot-on riffs to their songwriting that they make it work.

Even if my laziness cost me a past history of listening to Slaughtersun, I've been long familiar with "The Knell and the World", the band's best-known- and possibly best- track in their catalogue. Dawn make use of fast, melodic guitar lines, but they're not as overt with it as the Dissections and Windirs of the world. The band's performance and production here is surprisingly meaty, with due consideration in the mix even given to bassist Lars Tängmark-- considering most of the Second Wavers no doubt went comatose when it came time to check the bass knob on the mixing board, this alone seems to set Dawn apart from a lot of the bands that influenced them. Though the first track rings strongest in my mind, I actually prefer the second song, "Falcula". There's some thread of melancholic vulnerability in Dawn's melody writing that gets highlighted on this song, and I like the album all the more for its inclusion.

Slaughtersun is a fairly consistent album, by most accounts. It seems a bit out of place to have included a short acoustic interlude ("To Achieve the Ancestral Powers") in an album otherwise populated by ten minute monsters, but I don't think any piece falls short of what it set out to do. Where I may be less inspired than this album's diehards however is its feeling of sameyness. I don't take issue with the long song lengths so much as the fact that one song offers little different than another. With an overall length pushing a full hour, this stands as a bit of an issue. I'm currently unsure whether I really prefer it to Nær sólen gar niþer for evogher, but there's no doubt Slaughtersun's left some imprint in my head. From Henke Forss' dismal screams and apocalyptic imagery, to the soaring drive and atmosphere, the album still earns its keep today. Swedish melodic black metal does get better than this, but it's worth than deserved being immortalized in the collective consciousness of those who would be interested in what they do.

It's Hard Not To Like! - 85%

pandaemon, November 27th, 2009

Dawn might not be from Gothenburg, but its blend of brutality with melody is as great as the sound from the good bands of that area. "Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)" is a great experience from start to finish. An interesting and definitive fact is that the legendary Peter Tägtgren of Hypocrisy helped with engineering and mixing and I'm sure you know with what kind of bands he worked with...

Imagine this album similar to At The Gates' later work, heavy-melodic but with (even) more hate springing from the more distorted down-tuned guitars that create that black metal feeling. The songs are also much lengthier: around 9-10 minutes, the synth+acoustic guitar interlude called "To Achieve the Ancestral Powers" being the exception at only 2 minutes.

The following lyrics extracted from the album give a good glimpse of what you will experience musically: "Always spat on, hated, despised / Pure human waste / No hope... No future" or "Who is this, trapped inside of me? / An unfamiliar, violent breed / Raping innocents, vestal mutilation.". My first quote symbolized the black metal hate that the album emanates. The second marked the straightforward violent although complex death metal structures of the songs.

Quality death growls are used to maintain the omnipresent spiteful atmosphere throughout the songs (the only type of vocals used). Some moments are mid-fast paced and you can call them the "mellow" moments. They are heavy though not so intense as some other guitar crushing ones. The drumming fits the music very well, the record being blast-beat contagious and double-bass addicted. Guitar solos aren't something you should expect, but there are the fills between the main riffs that add variety. The music expresses very well the hatred, so the compositions of Fredrik Söderberg are a success, the only problem being the fact that being so long, the songs tend to become somewhat repetitious. That doesn't mean the songs are the same. They might be done in the same manner, but there are clear musical differences, not just a few changed notes.

A good thing on "Slaughtersun" are the keyboards that will join in and add a "haunting" element, but they are kind of rare, almost all songs having just one moment like this. The most keyboard-dependent song is "The Stalker's Blessing". Also one of the fills i talked about has has an acoustic guitar "involved". It is found on the track "Malediction Murder".

Most hateful song? Impossible to tell..
Best song? All of them sound great, it depends on your taste!
Underrated? Hell, yeah!

A decent album that should've been better - 76%

Karamunga, August 25th, 2006

Slaughtersun is a good album. As in, above average, but not something you want to listen to all the time. It should have been a great album but, alas, due to some flaws, it is merely 'good'.

If this album was about 15 minutes shorter, it would get a score around the 85% mark. One of the (many) problems with modern metal is that there's a constant desire for everyone to be seen as being progressive and intelligent. And progressive and intelligent metal bands write long songs. Aside from the acoustic prelude to Ride the Wings of Pestilence, there isn't a track here that doesn't break the 8 minute mark. Two of them break ten minutes. I do not dislike long songs. However, it is my rather strong opinion that a song should be as long as it needs to be. These songs do not require this length.

The riffs, chord progressions and melodies in this album are fantastic. I am no connoisseur of black metal, but this is the sort of stuff I enjoy. There is melody here, but the melody isn't created with over-the-top keyboards that drown everything else out in the mix. Keyboards are implemented, but they're used sparingly to enhance the over-all feel of the music, rather than dominate the music. However, these wonderful riffs, chord progressions and melodies end up being repeated to the point that, by the time there's a change, you hate them. This is major flaw number one.

Major flaw number two is that most of the songs are a little too similar. A whopping total of three tempos are used, and about 70% of the album is in a 12/8 time signature. For me, this results in me rarely actually listening to the full album, because much of it just feels like the same song. The blast beats and tremolo picking never stops, aside from the occasional interlude.

As I say, it is still a good album, and for many reasons. Henke Forss has a fantastic vocal style for this type of music. He does not, for example, sound like Pop-Eye. Pretty much all of the songs here are about death. And not in a Cannibal Corpse “Lo, for I have a sharp object, listen whilst I tell you how I am going to use it upon you” way. More of a “This world is full of scum who do not deserve to live, and I am here to end it” way. And good old Mr Forss genuinely seems to be filled with spite and hatred as he unrelentingly screams into the microphone. His vocals are also articulate, and somewhat clear in comparison to many black metal vocalists.

The rest of the band give a stellar performance as well. The band play with a certain precision that is sadly all too rare in black metal. The aforementioned blast beats and tremolo picked melodies are executed perfectly. Another great thing is the production. It's clear, but still has that raw sound that is a necessity for this kind of music. The bass is audible, though you sort of have to concentrate to be able to consciously tell what's actually being played at times.

This album would be one of my all time favourites if it was shorter.

Highlights: Malediction Murder, The Knell and the World, Falcula

Good album for fans of the style - 85%

Heian, March 20th, 2004

I'll start off by making the inevitable Dissection comparison. Like Dissection, Dawn are a Swedish melodic black metal band. Many Dissection fans point to this album as a continuation of Dissection's sound. I'm going to stop the comparison here because it's a bit unfair, as the album should be discussed on its own merits.

It used to be extremely hard to find this album, so I'd heard many black metal fans talk about it in a reverential tone. They'd rejoice at having found it on ebay or in a used record store. Fortunately Necropolis re-issued this album so it's no longer necessary to scour every source possible to find it. The re-issue also includes another full Dawn album and 2 EPs, so it's a lot of value for the price of a single album.

Once you listen to Slaughtersun, it's obvious that it's black metal album, no question about it. One of the first things that stands out about it is the very lengthy songs, usually around 10 minutes apiece. What this means is a fair amount of riff repetition, which can be good or bad. On a few songs they'll start to get a bit boring and then an awesome riff cuts in and seizes your attention. There's usually enough variety within each song to keep it interesting. There are some absolutely killer riffs on this album, particularly in "Falcula", that break out of the traditional black metal mold. There are also some neo-classical and Middle Eastern sounding riffs in songs like "The Aphelion Deserts" and a very triumphant and epic riff in "Malediction Murder" that comes back to finish the song with a bang. These riffs are what propel the album above average black metal albums and make it worthy of repeat listens.

The production is clearer than a lot of underground metal releases in this time period, but it still has enough of an edge to it to make it black metal. All the instruments and the vocals are clear. The bass is more audible than on most metal albums and the drums are insanely fast. Thematically the band shies away from the goofy Satanism that a lot of black metal bands espouse. The lyrics are very dark but they don't have to rely on corpsepaint or pentagrams to make the music sound evil. This isn't to say that the band is wussy or (Satan forbid) pro-Christian, but they deal with more advanced subject matter than your stereotypical black metal band.

I'll mention Dissection one last time and say that fans of Storm of the Light's Bane will probably love this album because it continues the tradition of highly aggressive yet melodic Swedish black metal and does it with a high degree of skill and integrity. If you get the re-issue you get almost all of Dawn's back catalogue as well. They're supposed to be working on new material now, so hopefully it will be as good as this. The best songs on the album are "Falcula", "The Aphelion Deserts", and "Malediction Murder".

Ride those motherfucking wings of pestilence!!! - 94%

Thorlock, October 11th, 2003

I really feel pity for those poor souls that don't own a copy of this absolutely amazing blackened deathmetal release. Dawn was one of those bands that took up the torch where Dissection left it, and they've carried it on throughout the years. This release is their absolute best one in all possible ways, the songmaterial is way beyond anything they've released prior to this. If you want your metal to have short songs, quit reading this review now! Most of the songs on this 7-song masterpiece are "quite" long...and I think you get what I mean when I say it clocks in at nearly one hour!!! The production is really fine, with a damn nice, crisp guitartone and a perfect mix of the drums. Vocalist, Henrik "Henke" Forss delivers some of the best blackmetal shrieks EVER and this work is definitely his best up to date. Lyrically, this deals with dark topics. Not satanic, but more misanthropic content with a pretty negative view on humans and their pathetic actions here on our planet called earth. Henke seems to be a very mistrusting, depressed and anti-social person and his lyrics (ok, he doesn't write all, but most of them) always express his inner feelings quite well.

And this album, not only by its long songs, delivers an extremely cool epic feeling. Especially the song "Ride the Wings of Pestilence" which lyrically deals with a little tale about when the plague had the world in its grip - this one tune screams of incredible epicness! Very, very good with thoughtful, frightening lyrics. Love it.

The only thing that possibly could be negatively said about this album is the slight lack of variety - some of the songs might be considered a bit too similair to eachoter. And I know for a fact that quite a few think the album is way too long. But seriously, that's not much of an issue if you ask me - atleast not when the music is THIS good. Atmospheric killer blackmetal with some strong deathmetal influences = yummy!

Dawn will release a new album in early 2004 (hopefully) and it will be called The Fourfold Furnace. Let's just hope it will be a worthy followup to this release. All bow to one of the best blackened deathmetal bands ever! Dawn Owns Ye All.