In Sickness and in Dreams

I was recently sent this disc completely out the blue by a friend of Nachtmystium's, and had no idea what to think of what I was looking at. I admit, I was a bit thrown off by the Calvin Kline-esque model portrait for the cover, not to mention the weird ass song titles and bold-printed "HEAVY METAL IS THE LAW" on the back of the case. I honestly had no idea what to expect. Naturally, my mind was thrown into an even more lachrymose state of confusion when the first track came on, and, while reading the lyrics, was completely dumbfounded, yet completely fascinated. The strange, sung vocals repeating "Scream and run" had me set to believe I had been duped into some weird techno/industrial "metal" shenanigans, but as soon as the next track started ( not even a minute later) I was completely floored. Dawnbringer is some of the most strikingly original, forward-thinking, and just plain fucking METAL music I have heard in a very long, long time. Shit!! The tracks go from epic blackened death (think Dissection + Rhapsody) to straight NWOBHM or power/speed metal a la Judas Priest, and then off into some grim, droning, trance-like black metal that would make Thralldom or Wolves in the Throne Room at least turn their heads.





I implore you to listen to this album as many times as possible. Really. It gets better and more fucking out there with ever listen, but every note you hear that's totally weird is just backed by some of the most brutal fucking shredding you've ever heard. Seriously, this fucking dude (Chris Black) is a genius, and this disc just flat out kicks ass.

All of the tracks are very short, but flow into each other incredibly well, making for a colossal album that's very easy to get lost in. There is a very consistent theme throughout the album, and the lyrics only help. At first, I couldn't get into them that much, but I later realised that it was simply me that was off, and since then this disc has not left the player.

and on a side note, Rhapsody previously held the title for "Ultimate Party Music No Matter How Grumpy Someone Is Being", but this...this should be making them very, very nervous.


The only reason it's only a 98% is because it's a compact disc, and everyone knows how lame that is.