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Dagoba - Different Breed review



Reviewer:
8.5

27 users:
7
Band: Dagoba
Album: Different Breed
Style: Groove thrash metal, Industrial thrash metal
Release date: June 14, 2024
Guest review by: Cynic Metalhead


01. Genes15
02. Arrival Of The Dead
03. Distant Cry
04. Different Breed
05. Minotaur
06. Léthé
07. Phoenix Noir
08. At The End Of The Day
09. Vega
10. Cerberus
11. Alpha

These French metal titans have occupied an interesting space in my collection, primarily as hellbent consistent in pushing boundaries with their sound. This was accentuated in my experience ever since I was acquainted with What Hell Is About, their best album until Different Breed evolved into a concrete-cracking, mosh-inducing, serious face-stomping gargantuan beast in 2024.

Let's get down to the business, shall we?

From the start, you’re thrown into a maelstrom of pulverizing riffs, double-bass drumming, and muffled bass rendering an intense ride that’s both technically precise and emotionally charged, as heard in tracks like "Arrival Of The Dead" and “Minotaur”. Vocalist Shawter’s performance is nothing short of a tour de force, seamlessly shifting between harsh gutturals and clean melodic hooks like in “Cerberus” and "Phoenix Noir”, creating an ebb and flow that keeps listeners on edge.

The guitar work on Different Breed is ravenous, with slabs of heavy groove-driven riffs, pounding drums and cutting thick bass mixed with the symphonics that are slobbering over "Different Breed" and "Distant Cry”. This layering is where Dagoba excel — never letting elements to overpower one another, but rather weaving them into one coherently powerful sonic medley, and that cuts the edge for a listener like me. The drumming is unceremoniously relentless, and the industrial tones lend the album a sharp, cold edge, evoking a sense of invocation that Dagoba seems to be soundtracking.

Different Breed is a pointier, sharper, punchier, meaner release than what they have produced in the past. It's a bold manifesto proclaiming to pack the crowd into one giant whirlwind of a moshpit. It evolves their discography while retaining the power to stand out even more within and outside of France, and it is spectacularly appeasing with Different Breed to see the stakes raised high.

Highlights: "Arrival Of The Dead", “Minotaur”, "Different Breed" and "Distant Cry”


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 7
Production: 8

Written by Cynic Metalhead | 18.10.2024




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 4   Visited by: 17 users
19.10.2024 - 10:26
Rating: 8
theFIST
Good review, i"d mostly agree, but not rate it quite as high.
to me, the good parts of Poseidon and Different Breed are on the same level, but this has a bit more filler.
i"d also rate What Hell Is About and Tales Of The Black Dawn above it, as well as their debut still being my favourite.
it is however a clear step above all the albums not mentioned, and a very welcome return to form.
----
http://metalstormmusicianscorner.bandcamp.com
Written by Warman on 07.11.2007 at 22:39
Haha, that's like saying "compose your own Metal album and upload it here, instead of writing a review of an album". :lol:

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19.10.2024 - 11:59
Rating: 8
Cynic Metalhead
Ambrish Saxena
Written by theFIST on 19.10.2024 at 10:26


i"d also rate What Hell Is About and Tales Of The Black Dawn above it, as well as their debut still being my favourite.

I've heard these albums on many occasions, before even I came to know about new Dagoba release. It's definitely a stepping stone to get to the Different Breed, but never one sounded fucking rawer, intensive, punch-in-your-face Mike Tyson-style brawling riffs that I ever heard. No doubt the debut album stands head and shoulder above to others in terms of grittier heavy riffs with harsh vocals influenced a lot by likes of Fear Factory, or early Meshuggah. While Different Breed evolved maturing significantly with sound developed on melodic hooks and atmospheric elements alongside their heavy industrial roots. The production is cleaner, more polished, and their songwriting more diverse, which I find lacking initially.
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19.10.2024 - 13:02
Rating: 8
theFIST
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 19.10.2024 at 11:59

Written by theFIST on 19.10.2024 at 10:26

What Hell Is About
Tales Of The Black Dawn

their songwriting more diverse, which I find lacking initially.

yes, that is probably the biggest drawback to those two.
very consistent, not much for each song to stand out.
the heavy edited voice parts and electronic elements on The Loss make me think Tales of the Black Dawn was initially supposed to be fully done with effects, samples and so on, debut album style.
would be interesting what that would have sounded like.
----
http://metalstormmusicianscorner.bandcamp.com
Written by Warman on 07.11.2007 at 22:39
Haha, that's like saying "compose your own Metal album and upload it here, instead of writing a review of an album". :lol:

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19.10.2024 - 14:30
Rating: 8
Cynic Metalhead
Ambrish Saxena
Written by theFIST on 19.10.2024 at 13:02

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 19.10.2024 at 11:59

Written by theFIST on 19.10.2024 at 10:26

What Hell Is About
Tales Of The Black Dawn

their songwriting more diverse, which I find lacking initially.

yes, that is probably the biggest drawback to those two.
debut album style.

It sets a good benchmark for Dagoba. It however didn't set up a precedent not to turn into another Lamb of God-clone as far as the flow looked concerned. The harsh vocals was bit eccentric while electronic elements wasn't transparent in the year 2003.
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