Hades
The Dawn of the Dying Sun
[Fullmoon]


Tasteful packaging with a brilliant cover picture is a good way to set up an epic metal release. "The Dawn of the Dying Sun" witnesses Hades talking a greater folk (or should I say "viking"- blech) style, and getting rid of the more Burzum-ish "rocking" riffs they had on their demo especially. This is a good deal better than "Again Shall Be" as a side note, and would be a good place to start with the band, especially since they faithfully re-recorded the CLASSIC "Alone Walkyng".

The album starts out with the brief title track, which is rather repetitive and simple. I suppose they intended to do that though, since it nicely sets up everything for "Awakening of Kings", a folk and doom drenched solid metal track Things really pick up with songs like "Crusade of the Underworld Hordes" though, since tracks like this display Hades at their best! It actually reminds me of "Babe I'm going to leave you" by Led Zeppelin. This is far from an insult, as that is quite possibly the most depressing rock'n'roll song ever! Epic yet gloomy, a fine combination of "Blood Fire Death" and "Hammerheart"! They even retain the Bathory style production, especially in the 'fuzzy' guitars. There's a real triumphant feel to many of the tracks, yet hopeless at the same time...marching into battle knowing that one will die?

And of course "Alone Walkyng" is sheer genius. They don't try to change much here (including the vocals), so it remains equally powerful in its new form. "The Dawn of the Dying Sun" is simply grand!


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