Album Review: Dawnbreaker – Total Depravity (Vision of God Records)

From New York City comes Dawnbreaker! An (un)black metal metal. It is known for the Christian conversion of Cullen Toner, who spent almost 10 years as the guitarist and vocalist of New Jersey’s first Black Metal Band, Abazagorath.

On the 22nd of September, Dawnbreaker released Total Depravity via Vision of God Records.

I’m not sure what (un)black metal is but it sure sounds like black metal and in the case of Dawnbreaker it seems to be more about the content and message. If you didn’t know better you’d naturally hear the opening chaos of Man of War and think that was some seriously ‘evil’ stuff but that’s not quite the case here.

Instead, the ferocity is focused elsewhere and it’s done so well, you really wouldn’t notice the difference. Mainly because Dawnbreaker’s (un)black metal is so very ferocious and raw, drawing its power from the old school with a touch of the melodramatic in certain songs such as Blot Out the Night, Secrets of Enoch and Radically Corrupt.

The harshness is broken up by the dungeon synth style sounds of Waterless Places, lasting for over 7 minutes which is quite maddening. Although it turns out to be something of a cleaver inclusion as the following The Dark Tower and Exordium make for eye-wateringly intense listens.

After one more intense (un)black metal listen in Post Tribulation Rapture, Dawnbreaker wrap up their album with another lengthy dungeon synth style number, one with a lot more spoken word and much richer and deeper effects.

Dawnbreaker – Total Depravity Full Track Listing:

1. Man Of War
2. Strength Of Passion
3. Blot Out The Night
4. Secrets Of Enoch
5. Waterless Places
6. The Dark Tower
7. Exordium
8. Radically Corrupt
9. Post Tribulation Rapture
10. Ruins Of Babylon

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Vision of God Records