EPs, demos, whatever you want to call a release these days you can pretty much get away with it. For me though an EP is exactly that an Extended Play, an extension of previous work, or in better circumstances the first release for an artist. Quite honestly outside of a first release I see little point in EPs despite their extending ethic. Yes, they’re easily digestible and give you a bit of an idea of what the band is about but once a band is established with an album or two who needs them? Plus the tracks on EPs that are pumped out later in a bands career I find tend to have a bit of a quality dip and rarely add anything to the general pool of classic material.
Without wishing to judge or bash too harshly though we are looking at an EP from Californian Death Metallers Abysmal Dawn. A band who have packed their lifespan full of brilliant material especially the 2011 album Levelling The Plane Of Existence which is utterly fantastic. They’re a band who play with many Death Metal influences and themes from OSDM to Tech and beyond. Some might brand them as a bit generic but for me I’ve always been a fan. So, to the EP at hand, Nightmare Frontier (great name) an EP that comes to us through the generally solid Metal foundation that is Season Of Mist.
Something fresh with A Nightmare Slain to kick off this punchy little EP, in typical Abysmal Dawn fashion it doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Sticking to a rather bland (but not bad) tone of OSDM and modern Death Metal bridging. The guitar sound is as one would expect and the vocals flitter from more guttural to traditional with ease, slipping in a few higher notes here and there to add a modern touch. The drumming is certainly an aspect that I think shines through brilliantly and is overall highly impactful. The next, and only other original track on the album is Blacken The Sky which adds to the bolstering of its predecessor. Again, it’s a song full of full-blown Death Metal potential that whilst somewhat generic has a certain something to it that makes you want to go back for more. I really appreciate the way that Abysmal Dawn play with Tech elements too, they don’t push the boat out as far as many modern artists do but it’s a subtle and reassuring fixture to their brand of standard but pleasing Death Metal. In a push to acclaim ‘trve’ status the next song is a cover from In Flames, Behind Space from the band’s debut Lunar Strain record. In part I roll my eyes, yes Lunar Strain is classic but putting my false cap on I’d rather hear a cover of something off of say Clayman, is it bad though? No, in fact it’s actually a really solid cover, but then you remember it’s a cover, and covers make me a little ill. Then comes the Candlemass cover of the almighty Bewitched which injects clean vocals, not that I’m against that but it kind of adds to the pointlessness of the cover in general. I’d much rather just take the original. My best guess is that these covers are just songs the band love and they want to have a bit of fun which is excusable and at least they’re tacked onto an EP rather than an album.
All in all it’s an EP that does what it says on the tin, four tracks, couple of covers and a couple of originals, pretty much what one would expect. It defiantly has a later stage EP vibe to it though, by which I mean it seeks to enjoy itself rather than serve as a starting portion for new fans. I have to say that for all my grumbles though the covers are tolerable, perhaps even good or very good. However, a cover is still a cover and I can absolutely do with never hearing them again. The original tracks on the other hand are full of marvel and truly fantastic extensions of Abysmal Dawn’s already impressive back catalogue. Nightmare Frontier is certainly worth a look, but maybe after delving into the bands more hardcore of work.
(7/10 George Caley)
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