RottenDawn - Occult
ROTTENDAWN DROP KICK-ASS DEBUT ALBUM – ‘OCCULT’
Helsinki-based “heavy music” outfit RottenDawn dropped their debut album, Occult, a few seconds ago.
RottenDawn
Made up of Pasi Äijö (bass, vocals), Joni Halmetoja (guitar), Make Mäkinen (guitar), and Mikael Arnkil (drums), RottenDawn’s genesis occurred in 2010, when Joni Halmetoja and Make Mäkinen hooked up to start making music. Pasi Äijö joined on to handle bass and vocals, followed by drummer Mikael Arnkil, formerly of Impaled Nazarene.
The band refers to their sound as “heavy music,” refusing to be pigeonholed into a genre. But they definitely blend elements of traditional doom, death metal, and old school heavy metal. Drop C tuning saturates their sound with sepulchral mass, which complements the banshee-like vocals of Pasi Äijö.
The foursome signed with Saturnal Records last year, and got right to work on their debut album. The title – Occult – encapsulates the band and its pulverizing dark sonic energy.
Just when you think it can’t get any better or more colossal, RottenDawn cuts loose with “Et Voi Taas Kuollakaan,” a gloriously dense doom track.
Occult comprises eight-tracks, beginning with “The Final Lament,” opening on a frenetic blast beat topped by raging guitars flowing into a thick, viscous doom melody rife with heavy black textures. Growling vocals rumble over gravel-surfaced guitars, deep and muscular.
From a subjective belvedere, highlights include “Burn ‘til Burial,” traveling on oozing, slo-mo cavernous tones supported by a fat bassline thrumming from the bottom of Tartarus and Thor-like drums. This is grand, majestic, massive doom, straight from the Visigoths. After a tight, brawny breakdown, a scorching guitar solo imbues the tune with heat from Hades, as wailing vocals float overhead, as if in the distance.
“Dusk Demons” feature graft-job guitars saturated with titanic vibrations akin to grumbling Norse gods, reverberating with rolling resonance as boiling tones emanate from a fiery organ, imbuing the tune with skintight tension and wicked menace. Just when you think it can’t get any better or more colossal, RottenDawn cuts loose with “Et Voi Taas Kuollakaan,” a gloriously dense doom track.
Occult is pure, unadulterated, impenetrable doom, glutinous, craggy, and teeming with hypertrophic dynamics. RottenDawn has it going on!
