Beyond Dawn - Longing For Scarlet Days - review
Beyond Dawn - Longing For Scarlet Days - review
Tracklist
01. Cold02. Moonwomb
03. Chaosphere
04. Clouds Swept Away The Colours
A review by
KwonVerge August 06, 2005
One year passed and Longing for Scarlet Days saw the light of day taking the sound of the band a few steps forward. Beyond Dawn sound way more mature, their experimentations are being expressed in a better way and for the first time their production can be called just-good, helping the fabulous compositions sound even better. With Longing for Scarlet Days, Beyond Dawn move into grieving avant-garde doom/death metal soundscapes expressing deep sorrow, despair and emotions of solitude.
The guitars have a doomy sound but they don't remain there. The guitar sound is quite wailing at times as if they were mourning. What is really remarkable for the genre is that the guitarists do not fear to unleash their wonderful solos, making the sound even more complex. The rhythm section has an accompanying role but this won't stop it from creating walls of sound lending groove and power to the sound of Beyond Dawn. There are two vocalists on this mini-cd: Espen, who is cleanly chanting with his somehow Garm-influenced baritone and Tore, who is dealing with the growling and the grunting, as well as saddened melo-declamations that sound a bit like Darren White. Both vocalists sound wonderful and very expressive.
What you may notice while listening to "Longing from Scarlet Days" is a strange organ echoing from the background. Well, this instrument is a trombone, and it makes the music sound even more emotional, enriching the soundscapes with its fabulous, yet obscure, melodies. This innovative idea, along with the personal elements in their sound, made Beyond Dawn a unique avant-garde doom/death metal act back then that gave an alternative meaning to words like "grief", "despair" and "pain".
From the anger-evoking yet depressive "Cold", where Tore grunts from the core of his soul in such a heart-rending way "where are you now?", to the early-Anathema-oriented, but personal still, and wonderful-sounding "Moonwomb" and from the devout and painful "Chaosphere" to an ode to absolute sadness, the grieving and doleful opus "Clouds Swept Away the Colours", "Longing for Scarlet Days" has no weak moments, emotionally, atmospherically and musically!
Doom/death metal fans that would love to listen to something deeply emotional and innovative should definitely check Beyond Dawn's Longing For Scarlet Days!
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