Band:	Septicflesh
Album:	Mystic Places Of Dawn
Style:	Atmospheric death metal
Release date:	1994

01. Mystic Places Of Dawn
02. Pale Beauty Of The Past
03. Return To Carthage
04. Crescent Moon
05. Chasing The Chimera
06. The Underwater Garden
07. Behind The Iron Mask
08. (Morpheus) The Dreamlord
09. Mythos
    1 - Part I: Elegy
    2 - Part II: Time Unbounded
10. Erebus [reissue bonus]
11. Another Reality [reissue bonus]
12. Temple Of The Lost Race [reissue bonus]
13. Setting Of The Two Suns [reissue bonus]

Septic Flesh were formed back in 1990 by the two Antoniou brothers, Spyros (bass guitar/vocals) and Chris (guitars) and they were playing death metal. Then came Sotiris that added a strange lyricism and melody to the band and all together they started forming the sound Septic Flesh, a sound filled with aggressive moments but without losing in melody, emotion and dark/mystic atmosphere. From the very beginning Sotiris was the main figure behind the lyrics (and most of the music) of Septic Flesh since he was concerned around magic and occult writings.

After having already released the successful, for the underground music world, mini-cd "Temple of the Lost Race" back in 1991, the time comes for Septic Flesh to release their debut album, "Mystic Places of Dawn" (1994). An album filled with dark aesthetic, melody and dreamy moments that pace wonderfully with aggressive brutal moments and outbursts. The production was made by Septic Flesh and Necromantia's Magus Wampyr Daoloth (a.k.a. the Magus). In this release you'll find Morbid Angel's chaotic brutality flirting with early Paradise Lost's elegiac feeling and along with Septic Flesh's ideas forming a wonderful debut album, "Mystic Places of Dawn", preparing the underground world of what would follow in the forthcoming years.

Prepare yourself to visit the lost and forbidden "mystic places of dawn" through the "pale beauty of the past" under a "crescent moon"?

? "Mystic Places of Dawn" begins and wonderful guitar riffing opens the homonymous composition. Spyros's howling deep brutal voice along with the dreamy guitar melodies travel you back to cities of lost quintessence and magic; visions of Pnath, Lemuria and Sarnath come forth, cities of unequalled beauty and wisdom. As the album continues the listener cherishes the "Pale Beauty of the Past" as ambient melodies echo in the room until we reach an inspired outburst. A composition filled with ancient lyricism expressing the lost beauty of the past that is "kept in the whisper of the wind", being expressed either by serene moments or by outbursts.

"Return to Carthage", a brutal composition with raging drumming and fiery guitar riffing with some elegiac tranquil breaks with mystic atmosphere-evoking keyboard melodies, is the next track of the album. A really inspired composition and in this one, except for the brutal expressive vocals of Spiros, we can hear Magus Wampyr Daoloth lending his eerie howls. "Crescent Moon" follows, revealing the great power and knowledge of the Night's eternal Observer, the "only King and Servant", the Moon. Mainly a mid-tempo composition with some heavier outbursts with the whole feeling and atmosphere becoming more intense at moments; definitely an 8-minute opus. "Chasing the Chimaira" that comes next is a good composition with inspired heavy guitar riffing and intense moments escalating the composition, pacing with the lyrics.

The album floats wonderfully with "The Underwater Garden" and its mystic atmosphere where you find yourself lying underwater suffocating for air while your eyes behold the beauty of a garden lying under the surface of the sea; atmosphere-evoking guitar riffs and chords along with expressive deep brutal vocals, drumming pacing wonderfully with the tempo of the composition at every single moment and keyboards that evoke a serene feeling whenever they enter the song. After the dreamy atmosphere of "The Underwater Garden" follows "Behind the Iron Mask" continuing the album in a brutal way with really fast drumming, ecstatic brutal vocals and the one great static riff coming after the other; definitely a hellish composition expressing the rage, the anger and the pain of the man behind the iron mask. An ode to "Morpheus the Dreamlord" follows filled with mystic and dark aesthetic evoked by the keyboards, the violin pieces that make the whole dark feeling more intense whenever they enter the composition and the unearthly vocals of Spiros. An ode to the one that holds in his hands the nighttime of human souls, "taste the fruit of knowledge, drink the juice of wisdom and you'll see what eyes can't see". The wandering of the soul in the "mystic places of dawn" ends with "Mythos" (Mythos = Myth), a classical composition consisting of two parts, "Part I: Elegy" and "Part II: Time Unbounded" passing from the epic feeling of the first part to the strange melancholy of the second and as the seconds pass the whole atmosphere becomes more intense, darker and more mystic, evoking visions of places that we will never see but we can still dream of, places that faded with the sands of time, yet their dust still paces with the wind?

If you want to find out how did Septic Flesh begin their journey or you are an admirer of aggressive music but also filled with melodic atmospheric moments then "Mystic Places of Dawn" should be a part of your collection.