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From the Dying Sky > Truth's Last Horizon > 2002, CD, Burning Season Records > Reviews > Vaseline1980
From the Dying Sky - Towards Last Horizon

Black Dawn - 75%

Vaseline1980, September 22nd, 2023
Written based on this version: 2002, CD, Burning Season Records

The metalcore boom from the mid to late 90's was pretty interesting. There was this huge wave of bands springing up, fusing (mostly) New York hardcore (think early Cro-Mags, Madball, Judge and early 90's Agnostic Front here) with full-on thrash-, death- and even black metal riffs and song structures, with bands like Dark Angel, late 80's/early 90's Kreator, pre-break up Carcass, early Immortal and lots and lots of Slayer being most notable. Bands such as Abnegation, Day of Suffering, Morning Again, All Out War and France's Kickback dealt some serious blows, and my home country of Belgium was one of the forerunners, with stuff like Liar, Sektor, Regression, Congress and Arkangel leaving some serious marks. By the time the 00's came by, however, the party was mostly over, with whiny vocals, third rate At the Gates riffs and over-long band names becoming the norm.

One of the last releases that managed to tickle my nerve ends in the right way was by From the Dying Sky, most probably because they more or less remade my favorite Arkangel release "Prayers upon Deaf Ears", and in a none too subtle way. If you would've told me this was some lost early Arkangel release, I would've believed you without any question about it. The screaming vocals bordering on black metal, the abrasive Slayer-meets-Kreator-meets-Dark Funeral riffing, and songs that stitch thrashing death metal rage to bulldozing breakdowns, it all sounds very, very familiar. Now, a total lack of originality isn't a crime in my book, so I can actually enjoy this stuff well enough, frankly. The band serves up their music with conviction and dedication and this stuff actually still holds up pretty well, although the breakdowns do feel a bit dated nowadays. There are a couple of things I could've done completely without, though. The band uses some sparse acoustic guitars here and there, something I find about as welcome as a wet fart in a hot crowded car. Morning Again managed to pull this off, From the Dying Sky not that much, really. I can't explain it all that much, I just don't give a crap about acoustic guitars in metal(core). And talking about things I don't give a crap about: there are a bunch of spoken samples on here. Yuck.

The clear and solid production make it that the music comes blasting out of the speakers with violent intent, although the triggered kicks betray its age somewhat. The guitars are up good and loud in the mix, as are the ferocious vocals, and the total package is solidly underpinned by the percussion. Despite this being a production job almost 25 years old, this still packs a punch, alright. Energetic and powerful, just what music like this needs.

Looking back on this, it is a good and solid closing statement to an era. Not counting those details that aren't really to my taste, this is a pretty solid metalcore release. Original it ain't, and perhaps some of my takes on it are colored by a bit of nostalgia (the vice of all aging people, probably), but I'd say you could do a hell of a lot worse than this release, for sure.