Awaiting Dawn, the 2014 debut full-length album from Danish folk metallers, Heidra, runs the gamut of styles associated with the folk metal sub-genre. Rather than sticking to a single sound throughout the album’s duration, various influences from power metal, Viking metal, melodic death metal, symphonic metal, and gothic metal are strewn in that ultimately result in an album worthy of its incredible album cover.
The timing of this release seems to contrast quite strangely with the wintery atmosphere and soundscape present on Awaiting Dawn. This is an atmosphere that is exemplified early on with the title track. Managing to interweave clean and harsh vocals exquisitely and pummeling the listener with riff after riff, the album impacts the listener very quickly. Often sounding very influenced from bands like Ensiferum, several softer passages and atmospheric numbers are included with tracks like “Betrayal” and ”Into Cursed Lands” that can’t help me wish I was listening to this in the frosty December midnight chill.
What has left the biggest impression on me, though, were the faster, almost power metal, tracks. While some of the other tracks seemed a bit lacking in the velocity department, especially for a folk metal album, “The Eyes of Giants” is a complete redemption in that regard. With its neoclassical riff, thunderous chorus, and blistering speed, its placement is a great marker on the album, as is “Witch of Prophecy”, a like-minded track.
The last few tracks seem a little tedious, however. “Wolfborn” just seems to be played out a little too long, especially for a mid-tempo folky song following the speed and brevity of “The Eyes of Giants”. Similarly, “Harbinger of War” feels way too abrupt for a finale to the album. For such an epic journey such as this, it’s just a little too redundant for me for it to end on another mid-tempo track dominated by riffs. It’s a case of something good being used with too much frequency. The clean vocals, however, are something I could have used more of. They recall Jarmo Kylmänen’s clean vocals from Eternal Tears of Sorrow, and they have such a powerful delivery and demanding timbre that they ended up being severely underutilized in my mind.
Ultimately, though, Awaiting Dawn is my favorite folk metal album so far this year, tied with Erdentempel. And “The Eyes of Giants” is a contender for song of the year. The crisp production and onslaught of riffing here is superb, as is the overbearing wintery atmosphere. I could’ve done with a bit more speed and clean vocals, especially considering how well they worked elsewhere on the album, but this is definitely something I’m recommending to any fans of Wintersun, Moonsorrow, and Suidakra.
Written for The Metal Observer