Moment of Weakness

It's a sad but all too often told tale that some bands simply exist as an SRB rocket (or springboard for those not up on their NASA lingo) for one dominant figure, and such was the case with the recently defunct Dawn Of Silence, a band that will probably be best remembered as "that band Patrik Johansson was in before joining Bloodbound". This is arguably not a terribly fair eventuality given that this band had a few decent tricks up their sleeves, though it's pretty difficult to approach either of their two LPs and preceding independent recording ventures without taking note of much more brightly the vocals shine than the rest of the music. Some of it could be chalked up to coming into their own during a time period where power metal was taking on a somewhat less metallic demeanor, whereas they were walking a sort of middle ground between an old school, conservative heavy metal sound with some occasional references to the excesses of the earlier millennial mode of power metal more often associated with Helloween, Stratovarius and pre-2004 Edguy.

In the total scheme of this band's fairly short studio run, their debut with Metal Heaven dubbed Moments Of Weakness is of a slightly more conservative character, relying more upon the formulaic melodic contour of Iron Maiden with a side order of Judas Priest and Helloween oriented speed, but in a much less concentrated dose than either of the latter two bands during their respective high periods, and definitely tilting a bit more towards the former in terms of pacing. At times, it almost gets the point of sounding like a Maiden tribute band that had just recently took to writing original material not unlike that of Metal On Metal Records' recent novelty Sacred Gate, with a particularly emphasis of the early Bruce Dickinson years, namely Piece Of Mind and Powerslave, but with a vocal interpretation closer to a raspy, mid-2000s Tobias Sammet. Select songs such as "Fire & Ice", "Long Time Dead" and "Hands Of Fate" have a particularly blatant throwback to said albums stylistically that it gets difficult to avoid throwing in a ad lib verse from "Aces High" or "Die With Your Boots On" while listening.

Naturally this band does make some time to move out of the Maiden box to explore some different territory, though they seem to wander back to sounding like said band when they hit a chorus, but dressed up with more vocal harmonies reminiscent of Edguy and Helloween. A particularly solid moment where things go into more of an Accept meets Judas Priest mode is the mid-tempo verse sections of "Misguided Life", presenting a chunky groove that borders on an early 90s thrash sound, though winding up in arena fanfare territory when the chorus breaks out. "Dark Secrets" is another solid number that tends a bit more towards a mid-80s Maiden sound at times, but slightly faster and with a few more power/speed elements indicative of the present. Moving back into the Maiden direction in a rather fierce way, and one of the better songs out of the mix is "Seeker Of Truth", which generally follows a similar formula to the more overt Maiden-like songs, save a slight bit faster, and then just nails the ears with a solid guitar solo that stops just short of quoting the one heard on "Children Of The Damned" off Number Of The Beast.

In comparison to its 2010 successor Wicked Saint Or Righteous Sinner (also their last effort), Moment Of Weakness is a bit more by the numbers, a bit more conservative, and ironically enough, just a little bit better. Perhaps part of it may lay in that the band doesn't try to move away from their early 80s roots by trying to sound like a more aggressive answer to Stratovarius, resulting in something that fits a bit better with their bare bones arrangement. Nevertheless, even with a sound that showcases a much looser arrangement, including a much more active bass and drum assault and more guitar adventurism, this is still a band dominated by their vocalist. Patrik Johansson basically is Dawn Of Silence, as his powerful pipes and versatility make this album listen like the sort of album that Hellfire Club should have been had Edguy not gone so heavy on the comedy factor and gutted their guitar sound and general production standards. Anyone who likes their power metal catchy, up beat, yet free of keyboards and orchestra will probably go for this, not to mention anyone who likes their Iron Maiden worship to be a bit more subtle than what's been cropping up lately since White Wizzard helped popularize the style again.