The Pitch: Lightly blackened industrial metal crew Dawn Of Ashes embrace their electronic leanings on the latest album via Metropolis Records. FFO: 3Teeth, Skinny Puppy, Combichrist
What I Like: Get out your pleather plants and black combat boots: it's time for more Dawn Of Ashes. Sporting the synth-heavy, often danceable sound of groups like 3Teeth, but with a more black metal twist on the vocals, this band should be like crack to the goth industrial crowd. I have thoughts below on why this may be a turnoff to certain readers, but there's plenty of room in my life for music like this. Sometimes I want to thrash my face off or have bones broken with blastbeats...others I'm fine turning on the black lights and bobbing my head to an electronic beat. One doesn't detract from the other. Furthermore, I'd argue that The Crypt Injection II (Non Serviam) is Dawn Of Ashes' best album to date. While it still lacks the vicious bite of Theophany, it feels more comfortable in its shoes and far more engaging than their milquetoast 2017 effort, Daemonolatry Gnosis. From the Ministry-eque intro to "Spirit of Anger" to Johan Van Roy's (Suicide Commando) expert assistance on "Hexcraft," there's a lot for a 90's lover to enjoy.
Critiques: While I haven't heard a lot of it firsthand, I could see why some extreme metal listeners might turn their back on these guys. Their club-worthy, gothic EDM chic may not sit right with your average beer-bellied, long haired, battle vested metalhead. It's the type of music that would have been on The Matrix or Blade soundtrack if it had come out during the era when Rammstein and Marilyn Manson were still the powerhouses that they once were. Even so, I'm a big fan of this style and am always happy to hear it done well... albeit a little overlong.
The Verdict: With The Crypt Injection II (Non Serviam), Dawn Of Ashes continue to opt for a route that is more Combichrist than Anaal Nathrakh. While that didn't turn out so well on the previous effort, this one finds the band on more than steady footing. If you like industrial metal and can silence that voice in your head that says it doesn't go hard enough, I think you'll be jamming this for a while.
Flight's Fav's: Ahirman, Spirit of Anger, Hexcraft
- Review by FlightOfIcarus
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