Dawn of Silence Wicked Saint or Righteous Sinner
by Franco Wissa
Staff Writer
Good God, Sweden and Finland seem to be quickly becoming the mecca for true metal. And keeping with that tradition is Dawn of Silence and their sophomore effort Wicked Saint or Righteous Sinner. Want a CD with fist pumping, head banging, double bass drums, down tuned bass, melodic vocals and a twin guitar attack? Then this is the CD for you.
Truly not a bad track to be heard – from the killer bass guitar work heard on “Escape the Night,” the outstanding vocal screams of “Crucifire,” the brilliant vocal harmonies of “In Quest for Life,“ the give and take between the drums and guitars of “Cage of Fear,“ to the CD highlight, “Release Me (From Myself,)” to the hard rock power chords of “Haunted Dreams,” to the CD’s closing track, the Edguy sounding “Masquerade.”
Mixing metal guitars with melodic vocals is a risky venture at best. Some bands have accomplished this seemingly without effort, (Edguy, Domain and Firewind,) and others are still working hard to know when too much is too much, when to tone down the vocals, allow the guitars to fade into the limelight, while at the same time never forgetting what incredible sounds that the rhythm section of the bass and drums can do for such a musical outing. Dawn of Silence, has, in their own right, done all this and more. Certainly here is a mix of Gamma Ray, Edguy and Primal Fear, but along with this comes the vintage metal of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden with the melodic metal of Brainstorm and U.D.O.
It is so difficult to find fault with any part of Wicked Saint or Righteous Sinner, so instead what must be said, is here is a hope that the boys of Dawn of Silence, continue the trek they have started, into future releases, on stage and beyond. For this is about as amazing of a melodic metal CD that any person could hope to hear. The guitars are perfect, the vocals spot on. The overall sound is outstanding. The songwriting was sensational, but as has been said in the past, the most perfect song can be put to paper but without the band to bring that track to life, the songwriting alone, means very little. But here, on this CD, the two come together without effort – brilliant songwriting and brought to life with some knockout musicianship. The bass and drums were just enough in the mix to know of the presence without ever coming across as pretentious or there just for the sake of having them in the band. Their place in the band was evident enough and in places where they needed to be they came across loud and clear, such as what was heard on the CD‘s opening track, “Chasing a Ghost.”
Wicked Saint and Righteous Sinner could damn well make a best of 2010 list. Pick this one today. Crank your stereo just as loud as it will go, and get ready…
Label: GMR Music Group
Track Listing
Chasing a Ghost
Escape the Night
In Quest for Life
Cage of Fear
Crucifire
Away From Heaven
Haunted Dreams
Shadow of Guilt
Masquerade
Musicians
Patrik Johansson – vocals, guitars
Pelle Johansson – bass
Tobbe Edqvist – drums
Mats Johansson – guitars
Hardrock Haven rating: 9/10