The Six Elements, vol.1 Earth

Dawn of a Dark Age come from Italy and “The Six Elements” is their first release. The two – member band is one of those ones that come from nowhere, without the support of any label and they prove that our neighboring country has good musicians and much love for Black Metal. So, their first full length album consists of six tracks two of which are instrumental tracks, of overall duration of about thirty five minutes. The band plays harsh and raw Black Metal, a style that may not be original but has some elements that draw the attention and make them be distinguished.

Their riffs are on one hand harsh and raw putting out that characteristic frost and violence. On the other hand though, the band also has many melodic elements into its sound that give a more melancholic and sentimental character to the compositions. We can find Thrash and epic elements, influences from Emperor and various references of traditional folk music. The variety of the riffs imposes variety to the rhythm too, which is changing from fast to medium quite frequently while there are some slow and chaotic fast passages too. The feelings, although it is weird for their harsh style, are very intense and they are presented very vividly to the listener. The tracks are quite big concerning their duration but the very interesting riffs, their different elements and their well worked structure, make the listen of the album pleasant.

The guitars are the instruments which rule into the compositions, they are played with accuracy, good technic and they deliver the feelings and the atmosphere of the compositions perfectly. The bass isn’t clearly audible but the sound doesn’t lack in depth and strength. The drums come from a drum machine and that is the most important negative element of the album. Although it is programed well, without mistakes nor rhythmic problems, the main problem that comes up by its use, it makes its here too. On one hand, I refer to the lifeless and without nerve sound and on the other handa, I refer to the repetitive and without any changes lines. The vocals are harsh and raw Black Metal vocals, quite expressive and passionate. The work that the band has done for the production and the mixture is flawless. The sound that the production puts out is clean and bass and combined with the very good mixture which highlights the strong elements of the compositions, the result absolutely fits to the style of the compositions. The lyrics are written in English and they describe images of apocalypse and destruction.

Dawn of a Dark Age start their journey into Black Metal in the best way. They present a powerful and at the same time interesting album with the personal element to rule. They prove to us that with tenacity and perseverance, even without any support, the talent is not lost. The fans of the sound buy it and you want regret it. The rest of you it worth to listen to it.