Dawn Of Oblivion

Didn’t we have them all before? Those imitators and clones of the genre’s big names: From the un-avoidable Sisters, Mission, Fields and Cure to the incredible Dreadful Shadows or Ville Valo’s HIM? And here they come: DAWN OF OBLIVION, proving, that walking in the shoes of their ancestors is a easy job they can do. To be short: They even seem to get comfortable in there. No wonder – They haven’t been founded yesterday and the current album meanwhile is the Swedes‘ forth album. They actually know, what they do!
Undoubtedly, Mephisto’s Appealing is pure Goth! Nothing more, but even nothing less. No softened pop-tracks of Finnish origin, no metal-posing or over ambitioned messing around with electronic toys, but a powerful work, spreading a warm and dense atmosphere. This may explain the long term be-tween recording (2000!) and publishing the album.
OK, sometimes they aren’t totally able to shake off their roots. A huge Dreadful Shadows-label is stuck to the opener Suicide, the edged Repulsion makes me wish, Love Like Blood would write songs like that, nowadays, and yes, Haunted sounds a bit like the Sisters‘ version of 1969. But expecting some kind of „re-invention“ of Goth in 2004 simply seems overdone.
It’s more a question of varieties, why an album pops out of the average. Of course, it’s the singer Victor Fradera, whose sonor voice determines the band‘s acoustic impression the most. This guy wins over versatility: Sinks typical Goth down to the deep 'd‘-note in the midtempo-song Under Siege, in Brain Drain he changes from a whisper and murmur to guttural moaning, and in songs like G.O.D. his growls even sound like a black or death metal.
And there are „real“ rock-guitar solos, at last! Rock’n’Roll! No six-string masturbation, but always as long and fast as to serve the song. In Free guitarero Stefan Rosqvist picks up some typical R’n’R phra-ses. Eclecticism at it’s best.
Another bonus are the catchy and imaginative arrangements. Especially, the choruses seem to be a specialty of the band, as proved by tracks like G.O.D. and the final Lullaby. Fradera and his crew simply know how to write brilliant songs. Variatio delectat: Nuclear Winter i.e. begins with a punk atti-tude, later on, the ear is delighted by a harmonic chorus and a romantic intermezzo, in which Rosqvist with a „classic“ manner doesn’t shrink from scent major 7-pickings. – And, what’s more, numerous hook lines complete this CD.
As a result, DAWN OF OBLIVION’s Mephisto’s Appealing manages, to transcend good old Goth-rock into the post-modern era.