2023 marks the release of Frozen Dawn‘s fourth album.
Formed in 2006 in Spain, the band composed of Daniel « Grinder » Álvarez (guitar/vocals, ex-Haemorrhage live), Arjan van der Wijst (drums, Opvs Leviathan, ex-Avulsed) and Antonio Mansilla (bass, Folkearth) announces their signing to Transcending Obscurity Records as well as the release of The Decline of the Enlightened Gods.
The dissonant Mystic Fires of Dark Allegiance opens the album with dark and ominous elements, quickly coupled with epic tones and powerful Old School vocal parts. A storm also rages through the softer, more melancholy parts, but rage quickly resurfaces before fading away to make way for Spellbound and its unbridled fury. The solid rhythmic pattern lets guitars develop hazy and heavy melodies while letting vocals develop their obvious oppression and darkness before Black Reign Awaits takes over with heady riffs. The soaring harmonics also follow the track’s heavy atmosphere which lets its Old School roots inspired by the Scandinavian scene accentuate the mysterious sounds before Frozen Kings offers a lively and driving martial rhythm. We also have a few hints of Thrash in this energetic and extremely melodic track, then Wanderer of Times revives the most disturbing and dissonant tones the band can create before letting the rhythmic do its work in company of jerky and tortured leads. Melancholy takes the sound over again on Oath of Forgotten Past, but the track will quickly speed up to allow cavernous screams to appear in an apocalyptic atmosphere which will barely slow down on the final, followed by Cosmic Black Chaos and its unholy soaring sounds. Once again, the rhythmic will ignite to give the sharp and epic riffs all their strength, then the long and eponymous The Decline of the Enlightened Gods will come to envelop us with its unhealthy and martial touch the band skilfully couples to abrasive sounds. The throbbing sound perfectly fits with the atmosphere the band created on the track, especially on this oppressive break as well as on The Fall of Aeon, a soothing and melodic but still disturbing interlude that leads us to Blinded By Light, Enlightened By Darkness, a cover of the Swedish band Necrophobic, which shares a similar universe with the Spanish, to close the album between rage and sharp sounds.
Inspired by Melodic Black Metal’s most Old School roots, Frozen Dawn brings solid riffs to its discography. The Decline of the Enlightened Gods can only seduce you with its catchy and devastating compositions.
95/100
