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DAWN RAY'D
New Music

Anarchist black metal group DAWN RAY’D release debut full-length The Unlawful Assembly [REVIEW]

October 4, 2017
1 min read

Guest review by Albert Ferkl. Photo by Rob Adamson

On October 2, within a month of their acute debut EP A Thorn, A Blight turning two, DAWN RAY’D (ex-WE CAME OUT LIKE TIGERS; interviewed for IDIOTEQ 2 years ago) follow up with The Unlawful Assembly, presenting 10 tracks of violin-driven urgency.

While claiming only 5 songs including a mindful outro, A Thorn, A Blight made a strong impression in metal and punk circles in 2015 by demonstrating just how well heartfelt black metal lends itself to expressing a pressing pursuit of political freedom. The Unlawful Assembly retains this exact approach while doubling up on length, being divided into two parts: The Wild Service and The Wild Magic. Both are concluded by a reflective folk-style song with clean vocals and acoustic instrumentation, titled “A Litany to Cowards” and “A Thought, Ablaze” respectively. The rest of the track-list is all the more fiery, featuring relentless drumbeats and dark guitar-work that engages the frontman’s bittersweet violin passages in melodic dialogue.

Continued below…

DAWN RAYD LP

Lyrically, the first track “Fire Sermon” as well as the penultimate “Strike Again the Hammer Sings” and “Island of Cannibal Horses” take the form of anarchist calls-to-arms, while the others are more philosophical, pondering topics such as cowardice (“Future Perfect Conditional”), will and chance (“The Ceaseless Arbitrary Choice”) and sleep and depression (“Held in a Lunar Synthesis”).

Ultimately, the conclusions reached and the general feeling generated by the record corresponds to that stated by the band: inaction is not an option. While the apparent message here is one of social revolution, it functions also on a deeply personal level. This is a call to foster freedom as individuals and unity as communities, and it is black metal nearing its maximum emotive potential.

DANW RAYD

DAWN RAY'D band

GO HERE to see previous reviews by Albert Ferkl: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, CHELSEA WOLFE, DEERHOOF, and Brutal Assault Festival!

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Tags:

  • Action Now!
  • Action Now! records
  • Albert Ferkl
  • black metal
  • crust
  • crust punk
  • dawn ray'd
  • Feast of Tentacles records
  • guest article
  • Halo Of Flies
  • halo of flies records
  • moment of collapse records
  • post hardcore
  • post metal
  • review
  • we came out like tigers

Karol Kamiński

DIY rock music enthusiast and web-zine publisher from Warsaw, Poland. Supporting DIY ethics, local artists and promoting hardcore punk, rock, post rock and alternative music of all kinds via IDIOTEQ online channels.
Contact via [email protected]

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