Dawn Of Solace - Waves review
| Band: | Dawn Of Solace |
| Album: | Waves |
| Style: | Doom metal, Gothic metal |
| Release date: | January 24, 2020 |
| A review by: | RaduP |
01. Lead Wings
02. Ashes
03. Silence
04. Hiding
05. Tuli
06. Numb
07. Choice
08. Ghost
Tuomas Saukkonen shocked the world seven years ago when he disbanded all of his projects to focus solely on Wolfheart. But somehow we now have a new Dawn Of Solace, so that was a fucking lie.
Maybe not really a lie since Dawn Of Solace was always more of a side-project than a proper band like Before The Dawn was, plus he never really promised never to return to his previous ones. Regardless, this is Tuomas' first non-Wolfheart in a long while so maybe there's more to come. What is certain is that this is music that wouldn't have fit under the Wolfheart, also because most if not all of the vocals are handled by someone else other than Tuomas, as was the case on the project's debut, The Darkness. This time, the vocals are handled by Mikko Heikkilä, who previously collaborated with Tuomas in Black Sun Aeon. Eikind, the vocalist on The Darkness also has a small vocal role on the album, but just as with Tuomas' harsh vocals, everything is pushed back by Mikko's cleans.
This essentially feels like a definitively Finnish melodeath album, but with a lot more gothic doom injected in it (or what we used to call Suomi metal here), and with the entire death part smuggled out. It feels gloomy, morose and dreary, but with some of the grandiose feeling of an Insomnium track played at an even slower pace, and with the slightly-progressive clean-vocal-led melancholy of a modern Katatonia track. At just forty minutes in runtime, Waves manages to pack in everything that Tuomas' music is known for: gloomy vocals, solos and very melodic death doom, this time with just a lot more emphasis on the melody and the gloom. The short runtime guarantees that there is no moment wasted here, no song feels longer than it should be, and the album as a whole feels like it has much more impact in addition to being very memorable.
This might not be anything really new for Tuomas, the man already covered the whole of Finnish ache with his music, and Waves breaks no new ground that wasn't already broken by the previous album or by any of his other projects, but regardless it's still great to hear some lighter music to contrast the now almost monotonous Wolfheart from a man that has shown at least a bit more range that was his main band now has. Even so, Waves is extremely tight, memorable and well-performed. Not to mention a lot more emotionally resonant, and with an instrumentation (all of courtesy of Tuomas) that never stops building exciting ways to emphasize the feelings. If there is one gripe I do have with it, is that some of the transitions in between songs could've been worked out a bit better, and maybe adding a few more minutes to the runtime would've given the album more breathing room.
As it is, this album should serve as proof of why Finnish metal is as popular as it is, there's just nothing that can really compare to the gloom they manage to ooze from their music, and when it's as tightly performed and produces as this here, we should enjoy it while it's still here.
 | Written on 13.02.2020 by Doesn't matter that much to me if you agree with me, as long as you checked the album out. |
Comments
Comments: 11
Visited by: 168 users
| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62297  |
Suomi metal has nothing to do whit gothic doom, its gothic rock, Dead rock whit melankolisk touch as to die for, lullacry, him... IMO he needs one band not many side projects,
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| MetalManic Posts: 655  |
Written by Bad English on 13.02.2020 at 16:50 The point being the sound is reminiscent of what was at one time commonly referred to as 'suomi'. Immediately specific bands (sentenced, Charon, For My Pain) came to mind when the subgenre was noted. As you said, To/Die/For is indeed an example. Never do I really consider Insomnium, etc. to be under that specific genre umbrella (despite the translation essentially being Finnish Metal), but when the word suomi is presented to describe a particular sound, my ears perk up. Funny enough, 17 bands fall under said subgenre in the metalstorm band search. These are spot on.
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| Gothic Metalhead Pro Introvert Posts: 148  |
Written by Bad English on 13.02.2020 at 16:50 Compared to the Gothic rock of the 1980s, the so-called suomi metal is more related to pure Gothic metal from Finland rather than being part of Gothic/doom. As much as we all like to split hairs there's still stylistic differences with Gothic metal. For example, Gothic metal from the UK evolved from death-doom and then there's Gothic metal from Finland which crosses the fence between Gothic rock and Gothic metal. So, this kind of sound is still related to metal, but I do agree that it's not part of Gothic/doom it's just more pure Gothic.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62297 |
Written by MetalManic on 13.02.2020 at 21:55 Sentenced is not suommi
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| MetalManic Posts: 655 |
Quote:Quote: In the context of comparison stated above, they were not entirely that 'suomi sound' but post '96-'97 they could indeed be partially included in this (seemingly blurred) category. One need only listen to tracks like 'You Are The One', 'Killing Me Killing You', 'Lower The Flags', or 'Drown Together' to unquestionably hear what is being discussed. That being said, I too sense these influences in this reviewed album. It's really quite nice to get that feeling. It's not leaping at me like those of past sounds, but perhaps with repeat listens it will become more apparent. Then again, any indication of resurrection of that era is warmly (or coldly) welcomed.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62297 |
Quote:Quote:Written by MetalManic on 14.02.2020 at 15:14 Well but Sentenced jumped higher as suomi bands and its not typical Finish gothic rock acts to me , so
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| MetalManic Posts: 655 |
Written by Bad English on 14.02.2020 at 16:35 That they did. Truly they do stand apart despite the touched on elements in my last reply. I'm curious to know if you remember having voted for Sentenced in the 2005 MS Awards in their respective category. That year they won. Their final album no less and by a landslide. Also, the category was 'Suomi Metal' so it appears to have been widely accepted around here that that was the category Sentenced belonged. I suspect that at the time there would have been little argument of the matter. As the years have passed, so too have the defining lines of that particular subgenre. It's safe to say that perhaps, at this point, it's mainly subjective as to what suomi actually is (or was). It's a fun discussion nonetheless.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62297 |
Written by MetalManic on 14.02.2020 at 19:10 Well i disagree and 2005 hmmm no i dont remrmber
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7508  |
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9133  |
Written by nikarg on 20.02.2020 at 10:02 Same
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62297 |
Written by nikarg on 20.02.2020 at 10:02 same
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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