Release
date: September
20th
2019. Label: Metal
Blade Record, Format:
CD/DD/Vinyl
A
Dawn To Fear
– Tracklisting
1.The
Silent Man 10:36 video
2.Lay
Your Head to Rest 06:23
3.A
Dawn to Fear 08:53
4.Nightwalkers
10:48
5.Lights
on the Hill 15:07
6.We
Feel the End 07:06
7.Inland
Rain 07:00
8.The
Fall 13:13
Members
Magnus
Líndberg
Johannes
Persson
Andreas
Johansson
Thomas
Hedlund
Fredrik
Kihlberg
Kristian
Karlsson
Review
Following
on from their triumphant collaboration album Mariner with Julie
Christmas, Cult Of Luna return with the eagerly anticipated A Dawn To
Fear and it has been more than worth the long wait for this album.
While Mariner had all you would hope for with a Cult Of Luna release,
we’re talking the vast and transcending soundscapes that the band
are renowned for and also had the added bonus of Julie Christmas
sublime vocals and it made for a compelling and all encompassing
listen. That album did whet the appetites for a brand new Cult Of
Luna album from all of those who listened to it and thankfully those
prayers have been answered with A Dawn To Fear.
Opening
track The Silent Man is a statement of intent from Cult Of Luna from
the get go and signals that the band are truly back where they
belong, the song ranks as one of the heaviest things that they’ve
ever released and grabs you as soon as it begins. The track has a
very cathartic feel to it and from the heaviness, something grows and
the track just builds and builds before ending with a soaring
feelings d it feels great to hear the band play with such passion.
The
triumphant Lay Your Head To Rest follows and continues the quality
from that opening salvo with another epic song and shows that the
band are still on par with the high standards they’ve set
themselves in the past, constantly evolving but also reassuringly
familiar sounding.
The
albums title track is a sprawling epic track with whispered vocals
aplenty over an epic soundscape that takes in many twists and turns
while Nightwalkers combine formidable heaviness with an air of aural
menace with Johannes Persson giving his vocal chords a workout when
they come into play and shows what a powerful singer he is.
The
monumental Lights On The Hill is A Dawn To Fears centrepiece and
demonstrates exactly what makes Cult Of Luna such an immense band,
with every facet of the bands brilliance is combined into this track.
From then on, the band slow it down with the mournful We Feel The End
Before the Power gets turned up again with Inland Rain, a track that
builds and builds again before climaxing with a fearsome heaviness.
The
album ends with the thirteen minute epic, The Fall and this song is
the perfect way to end the album. Initially starting off as a
downbeat hymn, the track morphs into a mixture of heavy and epic
before ending in the most triumphant fashion that will leave you
breathless and sees off the album in fine style, and you will be
wanting to experience the whole thing again, from start to finish.
The
songs themselves on the album are epic, perfectly paced and
demonstrate exactly how far Cult If Luna have come when it comes to
crafting songs.
With
A Dawn To Fear, Cult Of Luna have made an album that is emotional,
vast and the heaviest thing they have done to date and they’ve done
it with a mixture of passion and assured confidence, not many band
can go away for a number of years and come back with something as
devastatingly strong as this album.
This
album is a statement of intent from Cult Of Luna and it feels great
to have them back so sit down, listen and let A Dawn To Fear utterly
captivate and consume you with its epic nature
Words
by Gavin Brown
A
Dawn To Fear is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl now via Metal Blade
Records.
