Arduini / Balich :"Dawn of Ages"

Here is an interesting album, that caught my eye in it's claims to be progressive doom. While that might not be a fitting description, what is deserves attention. After chugging with a fair amount of atmosphere they bring husky more power metal vocals that are from a Dio school of thought. Things get bigger when the vocals come in. The tempo lumbers up to something a shade more brisk than where Black Sabbath would typically go. "Forever Fades " finds them galloping into more traditional metal waters and while they have a dense ominous chug they are not really doom even when it slows into more longingly blue based moan. There is a heavier "Into the Void" like attack to "Into Exile" and enough atmosphere injected into the chorus to make this song stand out. At over 11 minutes this is not confined just to their Sabbath worship , but branching out into a grander narrative. The guitar interplay gets a little more interesting toward the end.

It's not until the 13 minute "Wraith" that they lean into a more sorrowful doom direction. Something about this songs sounds like it could be one of Iced Earth's more power-ballad like moments. Whatever the case it might be the album's strongest song as it's the first one where I am convinced of the feeling being poured into it. There is more of a Whitesnake type feel to "Beyond the Barricade" so think hair being blown about by fans in front the monitors than anything actually metal like we think of metal today. Still this punch emulates my favorite Whitesnake moment in "Thrill of the Night" so it works for me. This works for me in the first four minutes of the song, but we are talking about a 17 and a half minute song.

After the sprawling epic they streamline things down to the three and a half minute closer. They also slow down to more of a doom like pacing.At almost two minutes into this and more guitar solos being indulged I begin to get the sense that this is more of an outro. Overall even with some of the heavier winks to 80s metal this is above solid into pretty impressive blend of straight up metal, it might not be a doom album, but it is heavy metal in the strictest sense so I will give this bad boy a 9 even though it is not something I can see myself listening to on a regular basis.