Dawn Of Tears hail from sunny Spain, but the band's music gushes from darker parts of the human psyche. The band's 2007 debut album 'Descent' was a goth-laced slab of melodic dark metal, which also was tightened with more extreme parts. It definitely didn't offer any surprises, even though it features some okay songs, but they are compiled from very familiar components.

'Dark Chamber Litanies' is an EP with duration of over 31 minutes. Still, these five songs are built from very well-known elements. 'Cadent Beating' starts with Danny Elfman style Burton goth, which does its best to make me press "stop" immediately! Gladly the band enters with great melancholic melody work and then the blasting in Cradle Of Filth's 'Dusk... and Her Embrace' (1996) way begins. The melancholic feel, some riffage and some synthesizer work heavily remind me of Finland's Eternal Tears of Sorrow. 'Since They're Gone' mixes semi-symphonic elements with Sentenced style kicking dirge. And that's how this EP lasts till the end; The aforementioned elements shuffled. So, basically it is the matter whether Dawn Of Tears can make the songs work or not, because they really miss their own identity. Badly. The band are able to bind heavier and calmer atmospheres nicely together in their compositions, which roll on well enough, even though are pretty long at times. But the key to make them work was not to stick too long with one part, and that's what the band managed to do with most of the songs. The sound is heavy and gives good contradictory edge against goth feel, as well as some rocking vibes that are heard at times. The vocals are varying growling, going from gutsy to shrieking, and distorted shouting in vein of Turisas etc.

'Dark Chamber Litanies' is partly in too sweet goth territory for my liking, and will surely make all painted, tight leather-clad girls scream from vampyric lust. On the other hand, there's some pretty ballsy stuff in here, too, for us metal monsters to grunt to. A real borderline case... Zero character, good enough songs and performances. If you enjoy the elements that Dawn Of Tears build their music from, be my guest, especially as this and the debut album are both available for free download on the band's website.

Rating: 5½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/01/2009 12:00