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Charnia from Belgium is debuting with the new album Dageraad. It’s a slow, heavy, deep, emotional, screamy, vibrant album. Dageraad reminds me a lot of ISIS – one of my favorite bands of all time, but with even more emotion or sadness added to it. Perfect for the upcoming fall or winter months, when you are in need of some decompression with the coldness all around.
The first song ‘Daknam’ starts the album off slow. It sets the mood. It reminds me of a cloudy day on a hillside looking into almost nothing as the clouds and winds pass you by. Setting the mood, right? I’m getting a little cold just thinking about it.
The next few songs are over 6 minutes long, bringing you a clamor of guitars and a solid drum rhythm to back the loud screams of the vocals. I especially love the bass sound throughout the album. It provides the low, soul vibrating feeling to it. The guitar and vocals are post-harcore at times. Tormented screams into the sky, I think it really hits all the necessary qualities a post-metal band should have.
My favorite song is ‘Het Dodenhuis’, but I would be lying if it didn’t remind me of an ISIS song. But that’s OK because its good! It almost errs on the side of sludge to give it the deep sounds to complete the drone like timing. But the cadence of the drums at the end really round it out, like closing a chapter in the middle of the album.
The final song is over 16 minutes long, completing the album. No sludge here. Mainly euphoric guitar sounds with a background of slow drumming. Taking you back to that cloudy hillside, hitting very much on the theme of the album. It continues on to bring you a soft yet sadden sound to carry you to the end of the album, leaving to waiting for their next.
Dageraad is available now. I would most certainly check it out. It could be a contender for my favorite album of 2014, especially for this genre.
