No dice! That was the very first verdict on Convocation‘s No Dawn for the Caliginous Night. The record bounced off the RMR review desk like those terse one-line rulings the Supreme Court likes to issue. And this probably was a knee-jerk reaction, some sort of overdose of too much Raise to the Sky and Shores of Null.
But then – luckily – came the inevitable ‘wait a minute’. A welcome moment of reason. The roaring doomy soundscapes, the spectacular atmosphere, and the overall artistic delivery of No Dawn just cannot be missed after all.
Yet – it is also true that Marko Neuman‘s ceaseless hail of merciless growls often takes this thing a few bridges too far down that particularly thorny road. Same as for Sergio González Catalán of the aforementioned Rise to the Sky, Convocation‘s ever-present doom roars didn’t help matters. First, you don’t understand diddly squat of what this guy is bawling about. And, second, you only hear the damned raspy growls and nothing else after a while. And that’s a pity because, believe it or not, No Dawn for the Caliginous Night is a gem of a Doom Death Metal record. If only, the band wouldn’t smother the all too prevalent excellence in a wall of sound from hell.
Yet again.
This record contains surprising doom death with a serious urge to scratch a funeralistic itch of the first order. A piece that – supposedly – again revolves around death and the rulez of passage or rites to move on to the next plane of existence. And that’s contested territory because nobody knows what’s coming after death. And acolytes of religious fervor can try and slam any type of ideology in my face, it just won’t sync at this time.
But returning to the music, the band’s ability to construct those galaxy-sized soundscapes full of monumental atmospheres spanning the length and width of the universe takes the cake. That ain’t something this crew ever encountered before. And we found ourselves quite a few feisty records along the way. No Dawn sounds like the soundtrack of any of Ridley Scott’s space sagas1 and Kubrick’s HAL2 combined. A style of metal that will cater to the terrifying messaging it tries to convey in majestic tones and a solemn measured pace.
A whirlwind of elements awaits the avid listener that strangely coexist, but never gripe. Ethereal atmospherics happily waft about with heavy doom riffs. Flawless changes from space organ to ambient acoustics, mourning cellos that suddenly disintegrate into a guitar-led meaty space odyssey. Sudden dissonance that’s bludgeoned by wretched otherworldly hollers. A cathedral choir that eerily wails its message out to the audience in between hardened growls and discreet strings.
This is a minutely planned production at a grandiose scale, and not something we ever thought would hit our airwaves. And it’s funny, No Dawn does transmit emotion as it should. But – strangely – it is not grief and tribulation, but more fear and deific outrage. A sense of unease with messaging from something above our comfortable three-dimensional paygrade. Just go ahead and check out Atychiphobia (fear of failure) with its alien hollers and strange mutterings. An excellent track that conveys the essence of the record best.
Ultimately, though, No Dawn for the Caliginous Night finally sucked us in and won the cranky members of the review desk over. And this despite our reservations with those ever-present doom death growls. In other words, mastermind Lauri Laaksonen undoubtedly created a next-level epic of the likes we’ve seldom found to date. And this means full immersion in an often almost frightening wretched vortex of intertwined often ethereal sounds, flavors, and powerful emotions.
The dice are back in the game, we stand corrected. Great record.
Ed’s note: And – drumroll – the record’s made it onto our 2023 Top Ten list. Congrats!
Record Rating: 8/10 | Label: Ever Lasting Spew | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 24 November 2023