It was a cold, rainy day outside the AMG offices (not that I’d know; I don’t have a window) when Huck N Roll spoke of Ages, the fourth full-length release from London, England’s Dawnwalker. “Prog death with folk undertones,” he says. “Billed as a mix of Opeth, Enslaved, and King Crimson,” he says. “I’m already busy or I would take it,” he says.1 Well, as I happened to be the only person in the room when he said all of this, I decided to take him up on the offer, and went in knowing only that. With naught but the British unknown ahead, I forged forwards, into dismal mists and progressive promise.
To be honest, the name-dropping Huck offered didn’t do much for me; I think the promo material gives a more honest glimpse at what lies within: “[Dawnwalker‘s] music blends modern metal with folk and progressive influences into a sound all of their own.” Frankly, I haven’t heard anything quite like what Dawnwalker offers on Ages before, and while that could easily be my own ignorance talking, the way the band combines riffing that reminds of The Ocean or, yes, Opeth with progressive song structures and vocal styles ranging from manic shrieks to plaintive cleans and echoing choirs is just something else. Ages also sports an interesting structure, where half the album tracks are ten-plus-minute-long opuses, and all but two are paired with an introduction track that joins the ending of the previous song to the beginning of the new one. It’s an altogether different beast, progressive in many ways, and it all works.
Of course, it works because the songwriting and performances are, in a word, exemplary. It’s a testament to Dawnwalker that none of the ten-to-thirteen-minute long songs ever really lose my attention, nor do they feel repetitive. “Ancient Sands” towers above the rest, a gem of progressive guitar work, choral wonder, and awesome vocal melodies that repeat the main themes just enough to give the song a sense of purpose. The clean singing is not something you’d ordinarily associate with metal this heavy; the singer’s voice is soft and thin, but not lacking in power or grace. The guitars alternate between crushing riffs and beautiful melodies, as in the opening strains of “Burning World,” which has a vaguely NWoBHM vibe to it in its rolling, picked guitar work, nicely laid alongside clean singing.
I would criticize a couple of things about Ages, though nothing so major as to make me dislike the whole. The production on the album is a bit muddy, creating a dense, thick atmosphere, despite only a light use of symphonic elements, which both works well and doesn’t work so well. It takes away a good amount of bite to the album, especially in the slightly-muddied guitar tone and largely-absent bass, but then, Ages doesn’t really need aggression or bite. It would be nice if it had a bit more of either, but the truth is that this album is beautiful in its compositions and very emotionally-charged. My other critique stems, perhaps unsurprisingly, from the album’s length. Dawnwalker certainly pull off all fifty-six minutes of Ages, but a few minutes could probably have been taken off of each of the four long songs for a tighter, more cohesive record. Closer “The Cataclysm” capably demonstrates that, given only six minutes to work with, Dawnwalker can still absolutely nail their unique sound, and a little bit more of that would have been cool to hear for sure.
As I glance back over what I’ve written, I feel I haven’t properly addressed what it is that gives Ages such a unique sound and makes it a compelling listen. So start by looking at the album art, because it captures it really well; this album is the sound of hope against hopelessness; togetherness and isolation; and a dawning sense that something is wrong. There’s a cataclysm on the horizon, and the waves are beginning to rise up. That sense of beauty in dreadfulness is the best I can do to describe what Dawnwalker so easily convey with their music, and it’s a journey well worth taking.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: dawnwalker.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/dawnwalkeruk
Releases Worldwide: December 4th, 2020
