Due to the status Vital Remains achieved after the brilliant Forever Underground album, this became one of the more anticipated death metal releases of the year. They return with their Altars-Of-Madness-ish riffing (the beginning of "Behold The Throne Of Chaos" = "CHAPEL OF GHOULS"), acoustic solos and keyboard pieces, along with addition of a new vocalist, Thorn, who comes across even deeper and more powerful than Joe Lewis’ already threatening set of lungs. Alas, and I really, really hate to say it… there are a lot of loose ends on this album. It’s a classic case… enough riffs could have been thrown out and more time devoted to the already good material at hand would have likely spawned an album that dominated. Easier said than done when you have this many ideas and this much talent on hand, I realize, but they did it previously! For example, aside from Suffocation, I rarely get a thrill from the two-legged typical "American" death metal blast-beat, but the bite of the snare last time felt great and made up for it… the bite is gone this time and those blasts aren’t providing for anything ("Dawn Of The Apocalypse"). David Suzuki’s regular one-legged blasts are completely fierce along side Tony Lazaro’s ability to pull off genuine Morbid Angel-ish riffs to rival degree ("Sanctity In Blasphemous Ruin"), I wish he’d stick to those instead. Albeit a more aggressive attitude this time, the album feels a bit too pieced together segment by segment instead of having that natural flow, hence the atmosphere never really sinks in. More viciousness arrives through Thorn’s excellent range of high screams & low growls, extensively drawn on for layered dual vocals, yet some effect is actually lost by overuse ("Black Magick Curse"). Lyrically they’re as evil and hateful as ever, though a slightly more juvenile persona seems to have surfaced this time around, therefore I’d recommend Dawn Of The Apocalypse to such audience. It’s still better than a lot of crap out there and David Suzuki stands as one of the most talented death metal musicians, so if you’re new to this or want some death metal to listen to as background music, there’s no shortage of good riffs, thrashing drives, blasts, double bass, heavy guitars, angry vocals, etc… as well as two keyboard interludes (Suzuki & Thorn, respectively), all with a decent production. Those hoping for something as epic as Forever Underground however may likely be disappointed.

Written By: Abbas