I was very, or better: extremely pleased with late 2011’s release On The Coming Of Darkness (review posted November 12th 2011 - see archives section), and luckily this successor goes on in the very same vein, both musically as lyrically (conceptually). On The Dawning Of Light consists of nine tracks with a total running time of forty seven minutes, and still the project is veiled within mystery and unknown identities (for what this might be worth).
This sophomore album starts very convincing (with Origin Of Light): fast and furious, melodic and harsh, powerful and overpowering (is it overpowerfulling?). This is the kind of Black Metal that sounds timeless (i.e. breathing the spirit of the nineties, yet at the same time coming with a present-day production) and universal (not just Norwegian, but seen from a much larger view). The main difference with the debut might be a slightly thrashier sound, but the core maintains the same. The craftsmanship is, again, beyond expectations, going for both song writing and performance.
Because of the permanent high-speed tempo (there are less slower parts than before, so actually there is more than just one difference with On The Coming Of Darkness - see former paragraph), On The Dawning Of Light sounds less generally-focused, but rather one-directional; still there are, however, many breaks and tempo-changes and that’s just fine, of course. And the few doomier parts are perfectly integrated in the whole concept (cf. the mystical melancholy of the instrumental hymn White Star Acception or an epic track like The Mist Of Death).