Daimon, Devil, Dawn (Invictus Productions/The Anja Offensive) is the debut album from Dark Rock group The Other Sun. The Swedish trio are described as Occult/Dark Rock but that label does not reflect their distinctive mix of Surf Rock, 70’s rock and Western soundtracks. Featuring members of Saturnalia Temple, and Árstíðir Lífsins this eclectic blending of sunny, Californian surf rock with Ennio Morricone film scores creates a unique gothic rock.
The opening track “Shaking Ground” encapsulates all the disparate elements, a moody, seventies-style riff welcomes you into a proggy mash of Surf Rock-like guitar tone and film soundtrack atmospherics, with gloomy spoken word vocals underneath it all. The diverse influences somehow works and create a doomy Rock. A Dick Dale style, reverb-heavy guitar is the bedrock for the spooky surf of “Black as Gold,” which builds to a Ghost-esque wall of sound replete with choral vocals. “Conjuring Other,” with its tribal drum beat, moody guitar, and incantations of “into the fire” is pseudo-metal and successfully conjures up darkness and the occult.
The album is unique, if slightly odd, sound and its thick veil of gloom catches your interest but it is too one note to hold it. Whether it be the retro 50s/60s melodies and devilish undertones of “Stalking The Stalker” or the ethereal “Pan” with its shimmering guitar and soft, hushed vocals – the pace, mood, and music is constant throughout. This lack of variety, and anything punchy, means tracks merge into one another and fade into the background too much. “A New Dawn” awakens you slightly from your black slumber, with its crunching chords, lively groove, and fiery climatic solo but it comes frustratingly late in the day.
Despite the vast difference of its constituent parts Daimon, Devil, Dawn creates a distinctive sound and an enveloping, dark atmosphere. This promise is let down by the lack of variety, changes of pace, or anything punchy.
Buy the album here:
https://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/daimon-devil-dawn
6 / 10
THOMAS THROWER