The very young Tampere, Finland-based label Saturnal Records suddenly appear out of the blue with some highly interesting releases; On Death’s Wings by Blood Red Fog and HellSpirit with Dawn Under Curse will be the first releases, available as from May 26th on, and at the end of July one can expect Anticipation For Blood Leveled In Darkness by super-group Voodoo Gods. Look out for the upcoming reviews on the recordings of Blood Red Fog and Voodoo Gods in a very near future.
This review deals with the first release on this new label, Dawn Under Curse. It’s HellSpirit’s first full length in a decade of existence. Earlier the band (initially formed by Baron Dethrone and Goat) recorded two demos, and they released a split with Australian combo Nocturnal Graves as well. After Goat left, and when the band was finally completed with MSA, Heinrich Von Heretik and Eld, HellSpirit started working on what would eventually become the band’s debut full length. Initially it was meant to be released via Finnish No Sign Of Life, but bankruptcy destroyed all hope… But very recently the band signed to the recently formed Saturnal-roster, and now the debut is finally released properly. The mastering, for your futile information, was done at the über-famous Swedish Necromorbus Studio.
Dawn Under Curse has duration of nearly thirty eight minutes and it does differ from the past. The earliest efforts brought a fast and furious form of Thrash / Black Evilness. This album, however, is less thrashing and much more epic and melodic. It is not Viking Metal in its purest definition, but this material certainly flirts with the borders of the Viking-Black scene. Of course there are still some elements from the past. Some pieces are heavily thrashy, and the no-nonsense approach of old has not gone completely either; an example is the last track, Eternal Night (Millennia Of Might), which goes almost completely on in the vein of the band’s demo-era. Yet one cannot deny the striking evolution into more glorifying spheres of the Dark Side. It also makes the atmosphere sound more of the war-like and victorious kind rather than the destructive and merciless one - which does not mean that this material suddenly became full of mercy. No, HellSpirit still do not take no prisoners. The tempo is less ‘fastened-up’ whole the time, but still there are many pyroclastic outbursts, however sweetly interacting with mid-tempo power.
Imagine a mixture of Bathory, Dark Funeral, Horna, Desaster, Allfader, Naglfar, Venom and early Satyricon, and you might have a clue… Sound promising, not?! The niveau might not be that high, but it is more than acceptable, this Dawn Under Curse-album.