Details
Produced by Humiliation. Engineered and mixed by Ahmad Zahlo. Recorded at Hot Sounds Studio, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 3–18 April 2010. Mastered by Carl at Saff Mastering Chicago, USA. Released on Nebiula Production, 2010.
Band
- BearBee—Vocals
- Matt—Guitar
- Shah—Guitar
- Afe—Bass
- Mudon—Drums
Tracks
- Intro
- Trench
- The crisis to come
- Frontrunner
- Command and control
- Warts of war
- Minefields (a way to kill)
- Capping the T
- Mutiny
- Mustard gas
- Reactor #8
- Outro
Review
I’m running late this week as I’ve been away on holiday and I forgot to take this album with me. Anyway, embarrassment over—on with the humiliation.
Last week, my impression of Humiliation’s EP Face the Disaster (2009) was pretty good. I was a little nervous about listening to this album: would it live up to its predecessor, or was the title of the EP a premonition of what was to come?
I’m delighted to report that Dawn of Warfare was every bit as I had hoped. The production is much the same, staying within the sludgy, thick sound that reminds me of Obituary or Gorefest. The riffs are fat and indulgent, and crucially (at least for me) are familiar without being entirely predictable.
In keeping with its lyrical theme of war and killing, the album opens and closes with an army bugler. The rest of the album is then hewn from one dirty slab of war-shaped death metal.
Not every song hits the ground running. “Minefields (A way to kill)” (track 7) opens with a Spanish guitar and flamenco-style finger-picked ditty that gives way to a quietly picked bass riff before a wall of guitars and drums bursts into life.
Similarly, “Mutiny” (track 9) opens with a delicately picked arpeggio, and “Reactor #8” is introduced by kick drums and bass.
Conclusion
It’s always a good sign when you finish listening to an album and find yourself thinking, “What shall I listen to now? … I know, I’ll listen to this again.”
I have to say that I really can’t find much to fault this album. It’s a good length, the songs are interesting, the playing and singing is first class. I could listen to this album for another week, quite happily. I think it really deserves a solid 10/10.
Review score: 100%