Dawnbringer - In Sickness and In Dreams

Chris Black - Drums, Bass, Vocals
Scott Hoffman - Guitar
Matt Johnsen - Solo Guitar

Chris Black's resume as heavy metal superhero is extensive- having assumed casket-pounding duties for power metal centurions Pharaoh (for my money, the BEST new traditional metal band out there), scumpunk filthflingers Superchrist and USBM darlings Nachtmystium, Senor Black can lay claim to being one of today's foremost subterranean champions. Brand me a cynic then, for unblemished as Chris' discography has been thus far, I could not still my apprehensions about this disc, ostensibly the latest offering from his long-running solo endeavour. Solo projects consistently prove to be dicey affairs, and it is little surprise that this slab is victim to the fundamental pitfalls of the solo effort- the focussed, deftly-harnessed songwriting vision lends a seamless sense of cohesion to much of the proceedings, but the understaffed songs also reveal glaring faults in the execution of said ideas.

Stylistically, the songcraft throughout this platter does not fall far from the Pharaoh tree. One could effectively declare that the bulk of this fare is The Longest Night distilled and expressed in far more succinct fashion. Much of this can be attributed to the ubiquity of six-string warlock Matt Johnsen, whose unmistakably flamboyant-yet-tuneful style accoutres the relatively straightforward tunes with plenty of flair. Yet, for all their purported eclecticism (Chris dabbles with ill-advised King Diamond-esque vocal theatrics and black metal tremolo here), the parallels to Pharaoh are salient enough to contrast the two bands. Such comparisons do not, lamentably, redound to Dawnbringer's favour- the fact that Chris employs ONE beat throughout this entire recording (a quasi-d-beat) does not annoy me as much as the insufferably bland black metal rasp that drives each and every track to its unenviable doom. It is always confounding/perplexing to me that people smother ambitious, progressive songwriting with incongruous, haphazard “extreme metal” vocals. It would be a shade less frustrating if Chris offered a dynamic, impassioned interpretation of the conventional screech, but the truth is that his monochromatic, feeble vocals lend a phlegmatic air to the record that is incredibly awkward against the white-hot intensity of the music.

Indeed, the tune-smithery throughout In Sickness And In Dreams is uniformly excellent, if a little too suggestive of Black's work with Pharaoh. “Midnight”, besmirched as it is with a slightly uninspired King Diamond facsimile, is exquisitely crafted and ceaselessly exciting, while “Anomie” could claim a spot among the highlights of either Pharaoh full-length, fuelled as it is with adroit, limber-yet-understated basslines and mind-melting twin-guitar pyrotechnics. The mere fact that Chris manages to compound so much spirit and scope into such terse, frenzied bursts is a feat in itself, and it is a pity that the near-boundless dynamism and elegance of the music isn't augmented by adequate vocals. I'm absolutely certain that if/when Messr Black decides to enlist a new voice to spur this material forward we'll have a modern classic on our hands. Until then, I'm afraid we'll have to grin and bear it. As it stands, this is a near-peerless air-guitar party crashed by an unwelcome vocal guest.

June 24th, 2007