CD Info
2011
Currahee Records / Ravenheart Music
11 Tracks
English Lyrics

Damn, there’s nothing like good Gothic metal, especially when there’s a lot of kick ass vocals. A New Dawn uses three of them. If you’ve been following the band for a while I’ll need to point out that these aren’t necessarily the musicians you’re familiar with. A New Dawn seems to change musicians like most of us change our underwear. And, hopefully, for better reasons.

I’ve always been a big fan of this Dutch band, through its many iterations. And one of the things I’ve always liked is the raw power of the music, no matter who was doing it. My understanding is that this music was intentionally designed to be performed live, there is an animal magnetism to the CD that you don’t often find, most bands do their recording material in such a way that they need some electronic supplements to get the sound to work in live performance, and that includes the big names especially since they can afford all that electronic material to enhance the live performance. Well, what we have here is material that is specifically developed to be performed live, any time, any place. And that gives it a little different sound and feel, it kinda gives you the feeling you’re there, even if you can’t see them.

The band retains its duel female lead, something that has pretty much been a staple of the band since its inception, at least to the best of my knowledge. On this product that lead is Jamila Ifzaren and a newcomer, Alysia van Horick. They continue the traditional sound; Jamila being somewhat more metal sounding, Alysia doing a little closer to a classical style. But, we get a solid death vocal as well, compliments of Mike van den Heuvel. Those vocals ride over a metal cushion provided by multiple guitarists and a solid drum line. It’s a little different than some of the Dutch material, not symphonic based, no soaring soprano although the girls can certainly come close when the spirit moves them. There’s a slick video introduction here that gives you a little of the flavor of the CD, however, you really have to catch the full sway of the music to get a feel for how it sounds. Fortunately, they seem to be relatively video friendly and already have a few solid (and a few less than solid) video products on line to review. And, since the music is intended for live performance, what you get in video is pretty much what you can expect on the CD. Of course live, you get a far better feel for the power and the intensity of the band, and, of course, the ladies look better that way as well.

The CD starts out with an interesting opening. No classical symphonic here, no classical anything. We get a horror story vocal, shouted, cajoled, pleaded, screamed, growled; an opening to suggest that things are not all they seem in Kansas anymore, or should I say Amsterdam:

My name is Dawn / I have a heart, I feel misery, I feel joy.
I reason, I fear, I hate and I'm ecstatic. / I know what I want, but I'm also confused.
Just like everybody I live my life the best way I can.
I'm strong, I'm weak. / I feel insecure and sometimes so sure.
I'm a person like everybody else. / Just struggling to accept my other half.
My saint, my demon. / Help me to be whole. I just want to be a woman.

But it doesn’t take long after that little horror show to jump to the metal, the place where A New Dawn is most comfortable. Contradiction jumps right to the crushing guitar riff that leads to those death vocals we mentioned earlier. And from there, we move to the female vocals, one after the next, back and forth. This juxtaposition of the major vocals is the working strategy of A New Dawn’s sound, and we get it all here, along with solid guitars that drive the metal. One of the nice things about the female vocals is that they are sufficiently different to be able to differentiate between them, even as they move on throughout an individual selection.

Desire continues the metal, but with a slightly different direction. Here we get more focus on the duel female lead. And this one really highlights those vocals, even the guitars seem to take a back seat, along with a more limited male vocal. It’s still B & B but we know who runs the household here, the guitars do some fill, and it’s very nice fill, but it’s the female leads who shine. And, with vocalists like this, there’s no complaints from this location.

One of the nice things you get with solid vocals is the opportunity to take things in a different direction. A New Dawn seems comfortable with utilizing a "dramatic" presentation style, one that makes use of multiple artistic talents. This track, Composition of Life, recorded at the release party provides an interesting interpretation of that capability. It also showcases the vocals, all three of them. Another style, not found often but significant when encountered is demonstrated with Prelude to a Farewell (Part II). Now don’t ask me where Part I is, it’s missing in action. But here we get a ballad that only the best vocalists can deliver, it’s truly beautiful. There’s also a nice piano accompaniment that provides a bit of a different style to the music. And, as with most of the music on this CD, you get a first rate Gothic message:

My life is torn apart / Could not see
Why this chaos / Why this pain
Can someone help me
Make me immortal / This is my final breath
Final breath

Another direction sees the band go in multiple directions in one song, combining sounds and styles in one extended work. Theatre of Fears meets this classification, beginning with a death metal vocal that leads to another beautiful female lead over a subdued metal background. It’s soft and beautiful. .. for a while:

You died on a Sunday morning
At the changing of the times / The summer went
The winter came / With coldness, snow and ice

But as the story continues, and it continues for some 8 minutes, we build to a more desperate, harsh metal. More death metal vocals, more screaming guitars, the ladies start to pour it on and the darkness becomes more pronounced.

All but memories / Shattered in a dream
Life has ended, the book is closed
You will be in our hearts forever
We will never forget you

For the most part, this is metal. But there are the occasions when extra instruments or musical devices are used to augment the sound. A cello augments The Madness Within, in a truly haunting way. A violin is used to create atmosphere on other parts of the same song. And we actually get a Gregorian chant on The Final Verdict, an 8 minute opus that pretty much provides everything A New Dawn is capable of, with some especially interesting vocals from all corners.

The final selection, Bellare Ad Aeternus, provides us with the traditional classical moment that all Goth requires, symphonic, with an acoustical guitar, vocal free. And, it provides a perfect end to a truly interesting work. This CD is not the traditional symphonic Gothic we expect from the Dutch. It’s more of the traditional B & B we get from further north on the continent. But, it provides all we want from that format, and doubles down on the first "B" with two outstanding vocals. And it combines it all with a solid Gothic message, even a little Latin sprinkled in to complete the package. Even seems to have a little message at the end for our friends on Wall Street:

Greed
Desire more than / you will ever need
Feeding on the suffering
You breed / You shall not exceed

Social commentary, can’t hardly beat that.

9.5 / 10

Band Facebook 
Band Website

• Prev
• Next