Dawn Of Solace Waves

Fourteen years after “Darkness” Tuomas Saukkonen brings back to life DAWN OF SOLACE and offers us one of the most beautiful dark albums of 2020. Definitely the music is way different than its main band (WOLFHEART) since on this one he swims into different music waters, a nice mix of atmospheric/melodic goth/dark metal, mostly based on mid-tempo rhythm and dark lyrics.

The melodic riffing is exceptional, hence all the fans of Amorphis, Insomnium and Katatonia will be full of dark smiles with this album as it is full of melancholic moments, the ones that we all love so much in this genre, although there are moments (mostly when it comes to the rhythm) that repetition seems a bit predictable. But there are plenty of other elements that give the necessary variety, acoustic passages, keyboard layers on an album that can be put under the doom melodeath genre (without the death part of course) while the slow passages here and there giving an epic doom vibe at moments.

It is impressive though how Tuomas manages to always keep the quality of compositions on top level (and this is valid for all the bands he participates, regular or side-projects). On Waves the multi-talented one-man band is responsible for all the organs, leaving space to others only for the main vocals where this time instead of the brutal vocals (with only exception on one track of the album) he did a smart move and let the –almost laid-back- vocals of Kikko Heikkilä (Black Sun Aeon) who did a great job and interpreted ideally the lyrics covering every sentimental aspect (despair, disappointment, loss or pain) but to my surprise there are the necessary rays of light here and there though out the forty minutes of the album. Ok, maybe the heatwave of the greek summer isn’t the optimal condition to enjoy this album but I’ll keep listening to this great album through out the year anyway…