Dawnbringer - Into The Lair Of The Sun God

Chris Black has been one of metals hardest working men in the past year with his bands High Spirits, Superchrist and Dawnbringer all having albums come out in the past 12 months (also in Pharaoh). And of all those albums, I am enjoying the latest Dawnbringer album 'Into The Lair Of The Sun God' the most.

To be fair, this is a bit of a challenging listen, which can always be a good thing as the more it grows on me, the better it usually becomes. Maybe, for something that sits more along side traditional metal, things sound a bit too rough which isn't too common these days for such a style. Take Chris's rougher clean vocals for instance. They seem a bit monotonous for something as epic as this album comes across. I wonder if the more high vocals he uses on High Spirits would have added much more effect to the lyrics in these songs. Even more of an epic vibe. I just feel some moments in these songs would have stood out more with a bit more variation. Especially for this concept album that has some pretty powerful lyrics. Those moments where his voice does lift, it just doesn't do enough to really hit you and make you go 'Wow!'. However, the dual, chant like moments help change things up a little more.

Otherwise, gosh, their are some killer songs here. A really good rough sounding mix of traditional metal thrown in with some thrash moments and even touches of hard rock. Take the twin lead work that breaks out on some of the songs and you just think of Iron Maiden in a more grittier way. The last few minutes of 'Perfect Water' is a great showcase of that. Even the way they can break out into moments in the songs where the guitars have their chance to breathe and they open the sky up for the rays of light to appear. It makes some of the songs even more enjoyable when you are just focusing on those riffs (Eg: 'Quiet As A Grave'). This is where the light truly shines and you can see that staircase appearing in the distance, tempting you to come forward and climb up so you can reach the sun.

It is even more interesting when they mix it up a bit, like the punchy and thrashing 'Silence In Waves' or the slow, hard rocking ballad like 'Take A Deep Breath' (favourite song on the album) which is so epic from lead work, to melodies, and lyrics. Great emotion and feel. The most powerful song on the album. And it's here when the beaming rays of light begin to fade out and the dark shadow starts looming over the staircase, forcing you to slowly climb back down.

It is when things tend to trudge more towards the end of the album instead of gallop that I tend to enjoy the album more. You still have those moments where the riffs break out and take complete control and twin leads battle it out, but it is presented differently. You think more of some epic mainstream metal anthem except without the catchy chorus forming with the twin vocal attack. I like it better this way anyhow hehe.

And that is what makes this album a winner for me in the end. That variation in the way the songs are presented and sound. A style as such should normally be straight forward and just cool to rock out to every now and then. But not 'Into The Lair Of The Sun God'. It is one of those diverse albums that one will get it, and one will not. For me though, it took some time, but I got it in the end.

Ikil