Okay, I’m gonna be entirely honest: I rarely, if ever, listen to music that sounds like Lithium Dawn’s upcoming release, Tearing Back The Veil 1: Ascension. I’ve heard it’s some variety of progressive metal, which makes sense, and that it’s sonically similar to genre giants Karnivool, but honestly, you could tell me this is entirely original and I would believe you. It doesn’t matter too much, though, because Ascension is great, no matter what your taste in music is. Mixing a strong heavy/light dynamic with some great riffing and a good sense of songwriting, these guys alternate between meaty, in-your-face guitar riffs and spacey sections that reverberate with an ethereal sense of wonder.
Starting off with a bang, courtesy of title track “Tearing Back The Veil,” the band grabs you by the collar immediately with their combination of rhythmic punch and melodic synthy thrusts before stepping off the pedal for a second to let their more relaxed, chilled side show for a minute before building back up into a chunky guitar groove that lets the synths show off their powerful atmospheric potential. The vocals cover the track with a layer of viscous, golden honey, adding a fantastic sense of texture and weaving each string of this album into a beautiful tapestry.
From here on out, it’s a fairly cut-and-dry affair, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that Ascension, the first half of a double release, is anything less than awesome. Every track offers something different in its dynamic, and the record is chock-full of barnburner riffs and anthemic segments that show these guys are ready to smash their way into the upper echelons of modern prog. Every song starts out building up into something greater, slowly gathering momentum and energy, and the best parts of the each track are when Lithium Dawn burst outwards in a climactic explosion of soaring vocals and hard-hitting riffs. The release also has a duo of back-to-back fantastic guest features: Heavy Blog favorites Plini and Sithu Aye both throw down fantastic solos on this album (Sithu Aye is on the track we premiered back in October), who both provide new layers of emotion and sonic texture onto the band’s already incredibly lush formula.
Far more than just a prog release for prog fans, Tearing Back The Veil 1: Ascension is a prog release for music fans in general. Every track shimmers and shines with an intricate array of elements that are far more than the sum of their individual parts. Give it a listen. You won’t be disappointed.
-SH