Album Review: Final Dawn - Minä Olen Pimeys
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
Never heard of Final Dawn? Yep, that makes two of us. The Finnish three-piece have been in existence for 20 years, but have released only one long player, ‘Under the Bleeding Sun’ in 2004. Their recording career is littered with EPs and demos, the last one being the ‘Satan’s Hourglass’ EP last year. So, who are they? Well, Final Dawn’s line up is Vesa Mattila (vocals and guitar), bassist Topi Anttila and drummer Ilkka Unnbom. Their music is a combination of death, black, doom and progressive metal, although they are often badged under the melodic death metal label.
‘Minä Olen Pimyes’ is 42 minutes of entertaining music, which traverses several of the styles above. In essence, Final Dawn retain a raw and gritty black metal sound, which crosses through other sounds as needed. There’s the almost heads down thrash of the opening song, ‘Noitarumpu’, which switches between guttural Immortal-esque horror and a more driving metal. ‘Til The Bitter End’ is propelled by driving riffs, straining vocals that echo Behemoth’s Nergal and thundering skull splitting drumming.
‘The Fisherman’ is one of the album’s stand out songs, the band paying homage to a lost friend who fell through the ice during the winter. A sombre, doom-filled affair, the vocals switch from the demonic croak to some more melodic delivery whilst the riffs continue to rain down. The morbid funeral vocals add to the atmosphere. In contrast, several tracks such as the aforementioned ‘Satan’s Hourglass’ simply thunder along, dominated by Mattila’s perfectly delivered gravel-soaked vocals and some huge riffage.
It may not be anything original and at times Final Dawn slip into almost black metal parody such is the predictability of their style but overall, this record is certainly one that works. It’s dark, a little bit dirty and contains ample firepower. But just be warned, if you are expecting something along the lines of Dark Tranquility or In Flames, you will be sadly disappointed.
