It all sounds very progressive to me. Dawnwalker comprises a number of musicians who help to create what they describe as “heavy, atmospheric and enigmatic”, while throwing in passing references to Opeth, Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief, Pink Floyd, Ihsahn, Enslaved, Radiohead, Mansun and even Kate Bush. But this is no derivative band with no sense of direction. “House of Sand” is Dawnwalker’s sixth album release.
A distant, echoey voice can be heard about a solid instrumental base. It’s prog, it’s dreamy, it’s hard. “R.I.P” suggests better times are somewhere else. It’s a mesmerising beginning. Some growls add fire the ending just when I thought it was going to take us to a new place. Instead, it is replaced with the slow and moody “Demon of Noontide”. Transforming into heavy darkness, it vacillates between this and dreamy reflection. An acoustic spoken piece is rudely interrupted, but such is the nature of this fragmented album. The constant is the folksy prog. The enigmatic part is most probably the haunted and distant vocals, which appear again on the wistful “False Doors”. Heavy psychedelia intervenes as the song speeds up, suggesting urgency and trouble. The song ends with a bizarre monologue. An album called “House of Sand”, which judging by the tone of the songs suggests vulnerability, deserves to have one called “Egypt”. This is the most haunting so far. The vocalist reminds me more than ever of John Lennon. The song itself heads into the land of heavy prog and even has a deathly scream but it’s the languidity and distance which provide the chilling impact. I liked “Egypt”.
From here we go to the title song. It’s a strange affair, sounding like a produced and orchestrally-enhanced version of a moody 1970s pop song. The approach to this album has an air of the Moody Blues about it, with the spoken opening of “The Prisoner” reminding me of a John Thomas monologue. A dreamy female voice opens the melancholic and emotionally charged “Repeater”. It’s a dark piece. Darkness and heavy rock-metal tones prevail on the exotic “Coming Forth by Day”. Violin strains reflect the regretful “Standing Stones”, a fine, cleverly crafted piece which rises in climax and angst before returning to the earlier mournful, hymn-like atmosphere. More doleful words from an English spokesperson fill out the space of “The Master” before adding to the misery with “House of Sand II”. I kind of get the comparison with Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and co but the atmosphere is different. The haunting mood could be spine-chilling but for the most part I’m finding that it’s all wallowing in its own misery and actually drowning out the beauty that lurks untapped in its style and haunting soundscapes. The album closes with “Mildew”, a miserable and short orchestral drone before a ten-minute remix of the same.
“House of Sand” is an ambitious album and interesting structurally and stylistically, but I just found that it was too morbid for its own sake and had too many dead ends. Yet it could have been so good. I just felt frustrated by it. The spoken words did little for me, and the surges from dreamy moods to moments of heaviness seemed to draw me away rather than suck me into its charms, which for me it largely lacked.
(5/10 Andrew Doherty)
11/08/2022 at 1:25 am
Am quite enjoying Ages, their 2020 release. Will have to give this a try despite the review