(GRAU 2006)
Longing for Dawn- A Treacherous Ascension
(GRAU 2006)
From Aural Innovations #36 (May 2007)
From the first note I sensed a journey into Hell coming…
Spacey, dark, doom-ridden chords appear from nothing, droning and orchestrating
string section like, forming the beginning of a treacherous ascension into the
blackness.
Meanwhile, below in the abyss tension mounts. Intense and somber the weight
begins to close in around. Haunted and unforgiving, yet it never seems to change
tempo.
I hear a shudder! A heavy guitar chord strike sustains and rings for all that
its worth, only to be trashed again and again, in Death March tempo for all
eternity. DONG……… DONG……… DING. DONG. DANGGGG.
…….
As Death tolls his guitar! Zaxanin and Calzirg from two of the four watchtowers
enter the threnody with a sound akin of coffins being nailed shut. And, as the
hammerings and thuddings that bruised the heel of Christ they beat the Death
March to feed the flames through the tunnels of Typhon. Where they weave the
Earth with dryness and behold with the sound of one grunting in homage to the
rejection of the race, or disassociation with some form of order.
DONG. DING. DAANNGGG…. Images of metal flow! Not thrash or death. Is it
doom? You tell me!
DONG. DANG. DIINNNNGGGG…. Hell is relentless but I find it warm and comfortable….
At least we can smoke here eh!
DING… DONG. ..DANNNGGGGG…
I think that Doom could be the term for Longing For Dawn’s music. Not
a big Doom listener myself, as I prefer Reign in Blood above most metal, but
I do like this for the fact that it is hypnotic and spacey as well as being
full on. Nothing like Slayer and I do not know names for reference points so
listening is the only way of knowing.
Repetitive and rarely shifting from the one tempo throughout, the four songs
on this CD offer much the same style to the end as they begin. But that is no
bad thing because it lasts just right because if there were more to it you would
probably get sick of it. It is not overdone and at least there is only one track
that is under ten minutes, so that is another plus.
Good production, couldn’t understand the grunting, but thankfully they
were not prominent in the mix. DONG. DING DAAAANNNNNGGGG. Worth a listen! Turn
that grief into music!
Visit the GRAU records web site at: http://www.grau.cd
Reviewed by Albert Pollard