STRANGE NEW DAWN

Retaining Kristiansand, Norway as their homebase, this band that also currently includes vocalist ExRoyal, keyboardist Muld and drummer Sven Rothe is up to album #3 titled NEW NIGHTS OF EUPHORIA after an eight year run of this band so far. Signed to swanky Finnish label SVART which specializes in all kinds of bizarre designer metal (such as Oranssi Pazuzu, Messa, Waste of Space Orchestra and Skepticism, STRANGE NEW DAWN delivers another slab of bizarrely crafted doom metal mixed with progressive elements and well, unexpected things. Featuring 10 tracks at 52 1/2 minutes, NEW NIGHTS OF EUPHORIA is as much a psychedelic journey as it is a guitar chug-a-thon.

Graced with lush choirs, dreamy atmospheres and unconventional piano rolls that one wouldn't normally expect in the context of metal, STRANGE NEW DAWN manages to take things a bit further into the weirdo zone after the more down to Earth mishmash of Goth, prog and doom metal of the past. This is a strange album for sure but not necessarily in a good way. For one thing it's aiming too heavily for a crossover sound and delivers an inconsistent flow in the album's overall run. Sounding like a fairly typical doom metal band one minute such as on the opening tracks "Journey Within" and "Class Hero Idol," the band makes a sudden shift to some sort of 80s pop flavored melo-rocker in the form of "Defenders of The Faith," very far from the Judas Priest cover which frankly would've been a better move.

The album continues with somewhat of a recycled feel as moments of both Green Carnation and Into The Woods rear their ugly heads in various guitar moves and atmospheric embellishments which at times even verge on cheesy. Tracks like "Seek It" sound like that classic used-to-be-a-black-metal-band sound as heard on some of the wild albums of both Arcturus and Dodheimsgard but unlike those bands that pull it off with ease, lead singer ExRoyal often sounds like he's channeling his inner James Hatfield and a Metallica singer in the house just doesn't sound appropriate in this doomy prog stuff! "High Strangeness" delivers the goods as promised but what kind of piano roll is that in the beginning? Odd and not exactly something that works at least to my ears. Once again the forced harmonic deliveries sound somewhat hokey in the midst of doom metal that's supposed to evoke gloom and darkness.

To be honest i've never been a huge fan of either In The Woods or Green Carnation but i fully acknowledge that "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" was an excellent release. Personally i don't get where these two brothers are coming from most of the time and to my ears the music generally sounds stilted and not able to gel the various counterpoints and motifs in a cohesive manner. Now experimentation is a welcome thing indeed and the crazier the better at times but the problem with this release it's it tries too hard to be happy vibin' melodic commercial enterprise that focuses on catchy hooks all backed up by dark doom metal guitars. In other words the poppy hooks ruin the doom metal aspects and the heavy downtuned doomy parts keep the melodic pop aspects from being effective. It sounds as if they are aiming at some sort of traditional doom sound in the vein of Candlemass or Reverend Bizarre but unfortunately falters in the actual execution. It's not a horribly unlistenable album but isn't something that injects me with musical ecstasy either. Middle of the road but kudos for the attempt to expand the band's sound for sure.