Band:	Charon
Album:	The Dying Daylights
Style:	Suomi metal
Release date:	2003
A review by:	Malcolm

01. Failed
02. Religious/Delicious
03. Death Can Dance
04. In Brief War
05. Guilt On Skin
06. Unbreak, Unchain
07. Drive
08. Every Failure
09. In Trust Of No One
10. If
11. No Saint
12. Built For My Ghosts [digipack bonus]
13. Re-collected [digipack bonus]

And now, a new release of one of all the Finnish Gothic Metal bands that rock our world. This time, it's Charon that have released a successor to last year's big hit, Downhearted.

After J.P's (Vocals) little outing to Ville Laihiala's (Sentenced) side project Poisonblack (That J.P. has since quit, because he didn't think that he could give Poisonblack all the time they needed) so have the guys in Charon now come together to record their fourth album. The Dying Daylights is the name on it; originally name was set to Dead Man Walking, but in some way they have change the name, I don't really know why, but something I heard was that they didn't think that Dead Man Walking was really the right name for a Charon album, but I don't know for sure.

So, after two single releases (In Trust of No One No.1 on Finnish single list & Religious/Delicious No.8 on the Finnish single list) it's now time for the new album to see the daylight for the first time. Many may wonder if the new release is going to be like their last effort Downhearted and the answer is both Yes and No. There is no song like Little Angel on this record, and no song that's going to strike bigger than some other. All the songs on this record are more ensemble than Downhearted, no song is neither better nor worst than any other song on this record. And yes, it's a really good album, precisely as Downhearted that should collect some more fans the Finnish Gothic Metal scene. And exactly as on every Charon release, the main point is J.P's wonderful voice. He carries Charon through light and darkness, as these kind of bands to often have to go through. And this time, he got some help from Marco Hietala (Nightwish, Tarot), he sings back vocals on some songs, and adds an extra dimension to the songs, but even that I don't really think that Marco's voice fits in on a Charon album, he is one of Finland's best male singer, even one of the best male Power/Heavy Metal singers in the world. And Jenny Heinonen does the female part, precisely as on Downhearted. Charon has a really great ground to stand on, when it comes to guitar, Jasse (von Hast) and Pasi (Sipilä), they know each other as if they were brothers. And the rhythm section does Teemu (Hautamäki) bass and Antti (Karihtala) do a great job once again.

Unfortunately, it looks like they are not going to get outside of Finland territory this year; last year they at least got some gigs in Europe, but there is still time, just hope that all will change and that they can do a bigger tour and visit some more countries (like Sweden), so that more metal fans will have a chance to discover these gold nuggets from "fuckin' Finland".

All of you that liked Downhearted won't be disappointed at The Dying Daylights but you'll neither get excited. Even you that liked Poisonblack will like this album; J.P. does a tremendous job again, as he always does.

Killing Songs: Hard to pick specific songs from this one, but Failed, Religious/Delicious, In Brief War & If are somehow a bit special.