Dawnwalker—Human Ruins (2023)

Details

Recorded by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse, East London. Additional recording at home, 2022–2023.
Remixed by Joe Clayton at No Studio, Manchester. Remastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, Portland. Re-released on Friday 3 November 2023.

For fans of Opeth, Ihsahn, Enslaved, Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Website | YouTube

Band

Mark Norgate—Vocals and guitars
Dane Cross—Bass and vocals
Siân Alexandra Fawcett—Vocals
Elaine Round—Flute
Alastair Mitchell—Drums

2023

Matteo Bianciotto—Additional guitar
Bella Band – Additional Flute

Tracks

Pagan plains
New morning
Horus
The clearing
Golden light
Fallow
Branches
Waldgeist
Into the night
Abyss
White winds
Between worlds
Kelross (The passage)

Review

At this point, 12 years into this extended 195 metal CDs project, I could probably chart the major crises in my life by the gaps between reviews. I lost my full-time, day job in April, a couple of days after Easter—over the last few months my attention has understandably been elsewhere. My employment status hasn’t exactly been fully resolved but I am feeling the call to listening to new music once again. Or in this case, old music.

Dawnwalker’s 2023 expanded and remastered reissue of Human Remains (2023) has been sitting in my metatphorical inbox for nine months, taunting me to publish a review.

Described by the band as belonging to the genre of ‘green metal’, the album is comprised of emotive post-metal, serene acoustic passages and bursts of cathartic black metal. Expertly remixed by Joe Clayton of No Studio and remastered by Brad Boatright, the re-release has been lovingly retooled to maximise on the original’s promise.

According to the band, Human Ruins (2023) charts a journey across an ancient landscape over the course of a calendar year—an epic journey through the seasons, guided by myth and magic, and the phases of the moon.

“I wanted to capture the turning of the seasons, the cycles of night and day, flora and fauna,” says vocalist and guitarist Mark Norgate. “To recreate these moments of serene calm and starry-eyed wonder giving way to a mortal fear of unseen evils lurking in the dark.”

And what a job he’s done in achieving that. Over the last few months, as I’ve been navigating my own emotional landscape, calming the panic and trying to focus on the horizon, I’ve returned to this album again and again to create for me a soundtrack for the kind of day that I want. Broad brushstrokes of laid back, progressive riffs interspersed with the occasional rush of adrenaline.

Musically, the album draws from a rich colour palette, inspired as much by the eccentric British prog and indie of Comus and King Crimson as it is by US atmospheric black metal and European doom. “It was an attempt to celebrate the landscape and beauty of the British Isles, rich in colour and diversity.” Written throughout the 2010s when the political landscape was “particularly bleak, grey and isolating—there’s no doubt that it was something of a reaction against that.”

Conclusion

As I contemplate my ‘human remains’ following the (at times) rather brutal nature of the last four months, this album has been a rather welcome soundtrack. Definitely one for the Opeth fans who have enjoyed Messrs Åkerfeldt & Co’s more gentle prog-inspired output.

Review score: 95%

Video

Disclosure

Back in December 2023 (before my life imploded) Viral Propaganda PR contacted me inviting me to preview Dawnwalker’s re-released album, thank you. I have no connections to either Viral Propaganda PR or BAND. I’m not being paid to review this, but I did get a free digital copy of the album to review which is pretty cool. Many thanks to David from Viral Propaganda PR, and to Dawnwalker for continuing to create fresh, exciting new music.