Dark Hound - Dawning (EN)

Of the speakers from my stereo equipment the second full-length-album of the american prog. metal band Dark Hound rings out. The disc will be released under the name "Dawning" in January 2018.

You could think that whenever Americans produce progressive metal it turns out rather ambitious, however, you'll be disappointed with this output here though. The only thing getting claimed here is your hearing but not in a good way. Even after listening to it for the second and third time, I really have to hold back to at least put something positive on paper.

But first I'll start with the negative singing. Yes, I know, it's difficult to find a good vocalist and if you produce metal - or prog. metal - , it's even more difficult. However, here the voice of the singer annoys from the first sound as well as his vocal color, which makes it really clear that he reaches his limits and tries to go beyond them. He sounds very nasal and in the higher passages you can clearly hear that he cannot reach them. The voice truly lacks assertiveness and multifacetedness.

The best example is the opening "Ashes Of Your Worth". It only takes a few seconds for you to be confronted with the singing, which initiates the first verse of the song almost immediately. Yes, I first thought "Okay, that's the first verse and it does sound a bit weird, but who knows, maybe that was intended". But exactly there you can see the above mentioned limit of the voice.

The instruments are well attuned to another, what can be mentioned as a positive aspect. The style mixture of thrash parts with Nu Metal from the 90'thies makes you listen up. They try and achieve to create a solid foundation with the opening. The track has a actually very good, groovy beat, which drives forward and which lets you hear every instrument. The guitarists play a great riff, which is put well in scene by the drums and which is also well supported by the bassist. Beautiful two-part guitars create decent pressure that invites to dance and to bang your head, but sadly gets destroyed by the singing.

And the same thing goes for each and every of the other songs, hence I won't go into detail any further. All in all eleven tracks can be found on this output and each one of them is well done regarding the music, but they loose their appeal due to the vocals.

Conclusion:
Even the greatest riffs and compositions loose their value, if you have someone on the mic, who simpley cannot realize that. Thus, the new work of the Americans Dark Hound is just one of many and it will likely get lost in the mass of publications. It's a pity, since only the music is really not as bad as the rating might suggest.

Rating: 3/10

Recommendation: nothing