Dawn of Solace – Affliction Vortex Review
By Steel Druhm
When Tuomas Saukkonen of Wolfheart, Before the Dawn, and Black Sun Aeon fame resurrected his Dawn of Solace project with the help of mighty Goth vocalist Mikko Heikkilä (ex-Sinamore) for 2020s Waves, big things happened. The duo’s experience working on Black Sun Aeon paid dividends and together they created a rich, engrossing, highly memorable slab of melancholic doom/death dripping with Finnish sadboi glory. Waves ended up my Record o’ the Year for 2020 and I still break it out when winter winds begin to blow. 2022s Flames of Perdition was a worthy follow-up though it couldn’t quite reach the same lofty heights as its predecessor. Affliction Vortex is the third collaboration between Toumas and Mikko under the Dawn of Solace banner and wisely, they haven’t tweaked the formula much. It’s still uber-glum melo-doom designed for a cold winter’s night introspection and all the key elements are in place. But can it hope to rival the maudlin majesty of Waves?
Not a chance, but it’s hard to resist what Tuomas and Mikko brew up nonetheless. Toumas has proven himself a master craftsman when it comes to weepy, despondent guitar work and sullen writing, and he’s lost none of his edge. When paired with Mikko’s smooth but pained vocals, good things are bound to happen. First proper track “Murder” is a classic Dawn of Solace composition, weighed down with forlorn guitar lines and carried expertly by Mikko’s despondent crooning. It’s exactly the kind of song you expect and desire from the duo and it doesn’t disappoint. This would have sat well on Waves, and no further compliments need be paid. “Fortress” begins life sounding like something off Katatonia’s Viva Emptiness with tense, angular riffs, before Toumas comes in with weighty death bellows and trilling harmonies that take things back to Finnish environs. “Into the Light” sounds like an old Black Sun Aeon song dug up and reworked, and I’m predestined to like it due to the downcast riffs and Finnish graveyard aesthetic. Tuomas delivers icy black rasps for extra chills and all is well.
The album crests with “Rival” – one of the best songs to come out of the Tuomas/Mikko collaboration, which is saying something. Mikko stretches himself vocally, providing an emotive journey that climaxes with a stellar chorus that hits just right. It’s sullen but vibrant and I can’t get enough of it. “Dream” is another stone-cold killer, leveraging Mikko’s vocal talents for maximum payoff as Tuomas roars in the background. Shades of Rapture live large in this one, but it’s undeniably a Tuomas joint. Some songs like “Invitation” recycle the sounds of Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon more than others, but it’s done toward good ends. “Perennial” is an interesting cut, slower, heavier and more dependent on Tuomas’ death grunts while Mikko alters his delivery toward something more rock-based. It stands out and almost feels out of place, but it works. At a tight 39 minutes, there’s no unsightly padding and only one track breaks the 4-minute barrier. This makes for a brisk, engaging spin with a solid replay factor.
What more can be said of the talents of this duo? Tuomas has proven his worth on countless albums spanning multiple genres and he continues to find inspiration in the darker side of life and the human psyche. He excels at crafting depressive doom and his riffcraft is always high quality. There are many of his cold, fragile, and morose leads here and plenty of his Gothy trilling and harmonizing too. His death roars and blackened rasps are good as always, injecting extremity into the melancholy while adding an effective counterpoint to Mikko’s disconsolate singing. Speaking of which, Mikko is always a slam dunk when it comes to this kind of music. He’s the prototype of a Goth metal singer and his voice is perfectly suited to the dejected songcraft. This is one of those pairings you can count on to deliver, and they do it again here.
I doubt Dawn of Solace will ever top what they accomplished on Waves, but three albums into the Mikko era, they’ve done nothing but deliver high quality output. Affliction Vortex is more or less the equal to Flames of Perdition with major highs and no duds. They’ve found a sweet spot in the sadboi doom genre and I hope they continue to mine it for more gems. I’ll keep buying until they hit the unruly Balrog.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Noble Demon
Websites: dawnofsolace.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/dawnofsolace |
Releases Worldwide: February 14th, 2025
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