Dawn of Azazel's "Relentless" Reviews

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Dawn of Azazel - Relentless

Review by: Lords of Metal - Issue 99

Richard G.: It must be very difficult to produce an inaccessible art form such as metal when you are located in the arse end of the world: your geographical situation is severely limiting your potential fanbase and live crowd. All the more reason to laud Rigel Walshe, who has been flying the flag of the New Zealand death metal scene for over ten years already with his Dawn Of Azazel. Being aware of the limitations of his homeland, the band has actually toured Europe a number of times already, the latest of which was together with Immolation, Krisiun and Grave in 2007.

If you were one of the lucky ones to witness DOA’s impressive energetic traditional blend of death/thrash back then, you will barely recognize the band on their newest album ‘Relentless’. Dawn Of Azazel have created a new self-minded and uneasy (in a good way) extreme metallic sound that can be distilled into the dissonance of Ulcerate on the one hand and the atypical riff structures and dark atmospheres of Immolation on the other hand. Counterintuitive melodies and solos together with the venomous bark of Rigel make this blackened death fest complete. The militant rhythms supporting the repetitive, scanted choruses, reminiscing the recent works of Satyricon, and make these eleven songs into the perfect marching music for Satan’s legions. As all of us metalheads are probably bound to go there anyway, there is no better preparation for your post mortem career than to get your copy of ‘Relentless’ now!

Rating: 80/100

Review source: http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=15398&lang=en

Review by: The Metal Forge - May 2010

Kiwi brutality

Relentless is an apt title for the debut album from this Kiwi blackened death metal troupe, for it is truly unrelenting. It's also nasty, gnarly and very unattractive. Just the way they and many metal fans around the world love it.

From a strictly personal point of view, I would prefer it if the name of the album was 'Relentless, and yet still melodic and varied' and still lived up to that. But that's just me. There is minimal melody or variation on display here; it's strictly for people who love their death metal raw and completely uncompromising. The desperation in singer Rigel Walshe's voice is palpable, and his vocals rip and tear your eardrums to shreds. The guitars are fairly functional, although occasionally hit upon some slightly more technical riffage, and also given a sound intended to cause maximum aural damage. The drumming is blast furnace busy and has two speeds: flat knacker and slightly less so. The production appears to have been kept deliberately basic and unpolished, in keeping with their dour and primitive overall vibe.

Top pick would have to go to the six and a half minute beast 'Overcome it All', with its flesh ripping chorus and awesome middle eight breakdown/groove section. 'Liquor and Lust' is also worthy of your attention, a late album epic that is given the length to provide more enthralling twists and turns than most of the rest of the album.

For a listener raised on melodic and progressive heavy sounds, this album wears fairly quickly. But if you favour metal in its roughest and most primal form, this album will absolutely float your boat. And New Zealand not being known for producing much in the way of heavy bands, it's great to see these guys breaking out and being heard beyond the shores of the land of the long white cloud. Support this band for this, if nothing else.

Review source: http://www.themetalforge.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=2840

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