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Wayward Dawn – All-Consuming Void

wayward dawn – all-consuming void

Info

Very Old School Death Metal from Denmark is what one gets with Wayward Dawn’s third full length album, ‘All Consuming Void.’ It is raw, but very groove laden, almost bordering Death n’ Roll at times but still having that Immolation meets Bloodbath sound overall. It is fuzzy, filthy, and raw, but not quite too raw that the guitars overtake everything and the vocals sound like they are being bellowed into a coffee can. There are no samples, no symphonics, no acoustic interludes, nothing to soften anything up as track after track just storms it way along but in a very head-bangable way. Whereas a lot of Old School Death metal like Deicide or Cannibal Corpse tends to just obliterate everything in its path, Wayward Dawn kind of like to lure listeners in with their face stomping music by adding in plenty of good riffs to get addicted to, much in the way that Dying Fetus did on their ‘W.O.T.F.W’ album. Tracks like ‘Cage of Resentment’ are good example of this: it stomps, but between the riffs, vocals, and drums one can’t help but enjoy having their ears pounded.

Other tracks like ‘Isolation’ are more of a hailstorm of riffs and vocals, leaving the drums and bass a bit buried. Bass is probably the most lost in all the mix of the album mostly due to the fuzz of the production, but some of rumbles are more audible in other tracks like ‘House of Mirrors’ which has a thunderous sound overall, but less of the groove and more of the ‘unrelenting’ side of the genre. One thing fans will notice different on this album compared to the others is Wayward Dawn push their epic proportions, opting for only 7 tracks vs. the typical 9 or 10 but closing on one very long piece called ‘Pull of the Boulder.’ A bit of stretch for most Old School Death Metal fans as it drags for 13 minutes, the track carries on quite a bit similar to ‘Unholy Cult’ from Immolation, but Wayward Dawn include some of their Doom driven moments with a much slower, percussive beat, and while the stretch of somber guitar notes is a bit of a betrayal compared to what they usually do, it is more foreboding and builds to the climactic close which is both ferocious and very groove driven. Here it feels like the band throws everything they’ve done on the album so far into one big melting pot of a track, so even for this one alone the album is worth a listen.

As far as any new ground, ‘All Consuming Void’ does not break anything in that hasn’t been done before. While a lot of the sound created is something that dime a dozen bands do, one can appreciate that at least Wayward Dawn are trying something new here in some way. One can definitely say they will listen to ‘All Consuming Void’ for something very specific compared to the other albums released so far, so one can’t say they’re doing the exact same thing they did on album no. 1. This is a band for those who enjoy their metal with no frills, a gritty sound, but plenty of great riff driven moments and monstrous vocals that are sure to incite some good pits during live shows.

Wayward Dawn

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