Dawn of Eternity and their new album Guilty has vastly.  After several listens to this new album, I found it to be one of the best Independent albums I’ve ever heard.  The German Gothic Symphonic band is everything I love about Symphonic Metal: heavy driving guitars, enchanting vocals, technical drums, and a dark theme throughout.  The vocals are dark, theatrical, and beautiful at the same time.  Their lead singer Sara Seubert delivers incredibly passionate and raw vocals on this album.  Her vocals tend to remind me of old After Forever and Leave’s Eyes mixed together.  Johannes Kittel is spot on with growls and heavy distorted guitars, making for a perfect contrast.  Their music is interesting and so much different than any Symphonic Metal band out there today.  They have created a really spectacular album that you just can’t hear anywhere else.

Ego, a slow building, haunting and dark track pulls you in with the mastery of Gothic sound.  The range of Sara is mesmerizing on this track; She goes from soaring Soprano vocals, to theatrical melodic vocals full of anger and regret.  Johannes has a chest rattling growl, keeping the track extremely heavy and dark.  The lyrics are well placed in the pocket on this song, making it catchy.  I find this track to be very addictive, yet raw and depressive.  If you’re going to get into Dawn of Eternity, this track is a perfect place to start.

 

Goodbye is a faster song than the opener, showing dynamic and technical ability that every modern band must have these days.  This track is more abstract than Ego, with more of a flowing melody that comes in and out rather than being conformed into the pocket of rhythm.  The two vocalists harmonize between growls and Symphonic vocals, much like Epica has achieved over the years.  Goodbye shows Dawn of Eternity can hold their own in Symphonic Metal.

 

Cut Me Loose is a hard driving track, more centered around heavy guitars and drums, keeping the vocals from being overpowering.  It is a well written song, full of grungy and angry tones.  I enjoy how much each track is different from the last on this album.  This track has more of a modern metal sound to it than a Symphonic style, proving Dawn of Eternity has many different sounds and qualities under their belt.  They surprised me more and more with each track on Guilty

Amorticure and Cut Me Loose are dueling tracks on the album, mirroring each other in a really cool way.  The tracks are similar sounding, but still unique and contrasting.  Amorticure keeps the band’s technicality in the forefront, containing a really cool jamming guitar riff throughout the song.  Although the guitar is almost constant on this track, it doesn’t become repetitive at all.  Johannes manages to throw bending and sliding nuances that I appreciate in this particular style of metal.  The vocals are especially spectacular on this song, not overpowering but incredibly powerful at the same time.  Amorticure is one of my favorite tracks I’ve heard in metal this year.

 

Sing For Me starts out with high energy Thrash style guitars and drums, with melodic Siren vocals over the top.  It is a perfect marriage of heavy and aggressive instrumentals, with sweet enchanting vocals.  At the bridge, the song breaks down into this rhythmic depressive sound that I’ve never heard from a female fronted band before.  Then Sara manages to steal the song back and hit this thrilling high note in true Soprano style.  This song is one of the best on the album, I highly recommend it for heavy metal fans.

Guilty, the title track off the album, is just an incredibly well written song.  The lyrics are what makes this band and this song in particular so great.  They are audible, relatable, and performed with great believability.  Believability is a difficult trait to achieve in their Gothic/Symphonic Metal genre, but Dawn of Eternity definitely does on this song.  This track makes me believe that they would be an awesome live band.

 

Blind My Eyes is a heavy track, keeping with that Alternative Thrash sound that Sing For Me accomplished so well.  I find this track putting Johannes in the forefront, making the album appeal to the Melodic Death Metal fans.  It sounds like both vocalists are fighting for control in the band, and the instruments communicate the tension perfectly.  This song keeps the album interesting.  It throws out any possibility of the album becoming bland.

 

No Emotions is truly a well crafted Gothic song.  The track starts out with slow haunting vocals and acoustics, on top of slow building rhythmic drums in the background.  No Emotions has this lonely, desperate, bottom of the barrell sound to it.  It capitalizes on the depressive sound so well, without having the cheesier side of Doom Metal.  The placement of this track on the album is perfect, keeping the album from becoming monotonous or boring.

 

You Suck is a rhythmic hate filled song, just like the title suggests.  The guitars are down tuned and melodic, perfectly sitting under the aggressive and haunting vocals.  I like how the song builds up faster and harder from beginning to end, a trait good Symphonic Bands usually carries.  This isn’t the best track on the album, but it still has some good qualities to it.  I found the vocals to be all over the place, not retaining a melody or style at all, so that’s why it isn’t the best track.

 

Oceans is one of my other favorite songs off of Guilty.  The atmospheric guitar part, growing into a heavier rhythm style part is drastically different.  This song reminds me a lot of Elegy by Leave’s Eyes because of the haunting and smooth vocal delivery.  I never thought I’d be reminded of Leave’s Eyes, but this band is honestly on their way to that masterful sound.  Although they remind me of other bands, they are still extremely unique. Oceans is a pure quality track off a truly well written album.

 

Fire closes Guilty out perfectly, with a dark, entrancing, ballad that builds up with a hopeful sound to it.  There’s something truly beautiful about this song.  The vocals are well placed atop a rhythmic acoustic guitar, without any effects or other instruments.  It is a barebones, emotional, ballad that is completely different from the rest of the album.  It ends the album on a slow note, but definitely a high note.  Fire is a must listen track.

 

Guilty overall is a well written Gothic Metal album.  It encompasses everything I expect with Symphonic and Gothic Metal, but adds unique sounds that I’ve never heard in either genre.  Like I said, the album surprised me with just how amazing it was.  I have listened to it over two weeks, trying to compose a in depth review of it.  I didn’t find many negative points, mostly positive points, which is a rare thing in today’s music.  For an independent Metal band, this record is a high quality release.  Dawn of Eternity is vastly talented and I expect more great albums to come from them in the future.

 

Quality Rating Overall; 8/10

 

Links:

 

https://www.facebook.com/officialdawnofeternity

 

https://twitter.com/DawnofEternity

 

http://www.reverbnation.com/dawnofeternity1

 

http://dawn-of-eternity.bandcamp.com/album/guilty