Dutch melodic metalcore four piece Undawn have been kicking about since 2007 when they initially formed under the name ‘Symphony Of Destruction’. Three years later, changing their name to Undawn, the band began work on what would be their debut release ‘Jumpers’ (2011). This album, combined with highly rated live performances helped launch them to attention in Europe, even gaining them a slot on Soulfly’s 2012 tour as a support act. Fast forward now to December 2015 and their second full length, “Justice Is…” has just been unleashed. This band is one on the rise, and when Björn Strid of Soilwork wants to contribute guest vocals, you must be onto something. Let’s see what these guys have to offer.
Like with all Metalcore, you know the sound is going to be heavy, loud and aggressive with an emphasis on melodic clean singing with some raw and harsh growls and shouts. When you combine this approach with some aspects of melodic death metal, it can be a bit tricky. Sometimes it works, other times it does not and this is one occasion where it does.
Despite the odd complaint or grumble about the vocal delivery in places, like on the opening track “Coming Home”, the punchy and hard hitting music easily compensates for it. Great pace with plenty of headbang friendly groove in the delivery and some memorable riffs and fluid sounding lead work make for a good appetiser and from there, it continues. Pounding breakdowns litter the tracks along with some real solid drum work, especially in the track “In The Moment” where the drumming is relentless but never seems or feels out of place or over the top!
“Faceless” and “Moving On” have some of the best clean sections on the album, musically and vocally with real intricate arpeggios and harmonised singing with some call and response styled interplay over some great progressions, but the stand out track has to be the one where Björn lent his talents – “We’re Giving Up”. Smooth flowing melodic leads over big sounding chugged guitars give way to a furious metalcore riff assault and the interplay of the band’s vocals with Strid’s is top notch. With big sounding choruses and tight verses, it really catches the ear and when it hits the 3 minute mark, Björns primary vocal role really shines out in the clean aspect of things over the building progression which sets up the final run of the song brilliantly.
Sure, metalcore is like the Nu-Metal for the modern generation and it is treated with disdain, but in that mountain of mediocrity, there are some bright sparks and this Dutch fourpiece is one of them. Blending the melodic and aggressiveness of the melo-death genre with the attitude, sound and delivery of modern metalcore, they have created a decent blend which feels familiar, appeals to a wider range and isn’t as terrible as some of its peers can be. In all, it’s worth a listen if melodic death metal may be a bit too much for you… Or if you fancy a lighter variant of metal if metalcore is your idea of easy listening.
(7/10 Fraggle)
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