Eclectika – Dazzling Dawn (2010)

Hailing from France, today we get a very unique Post-Black Metal band that is not afraid of pushing the boundaries of music. This French trio plays a very well balanced mixture of raw Black Metal with experimental elements that makes “Dazzling Dawn” a very refreshing album that is both aggressive and very melodic.

Starting off with a very symphonic intro, you are set to expect something like Dimmu Borgir or similar Symphonic Black Metal bands, but instead you get a very raw BM approach with some female vocals. All this for 2 tracks and then it changes into a very melodic acoustic ballad that could be from any Gothic Metal band out there. This is pretty much how the album flows, featuring a wide variety of styles and elements put together in a very intricate way.

The female vocals provided by Alexandra Lemoine are near perfect since they sound so natural and different from the rest. The male Black Metal shrieks are pretty standard for a Black Metal release and are very well accentuated by the female vocals (when used).

The core of the band’s music, and the reason we greatly enjoyed this album, is the brilliantly composed atmospheric sections created by intricate keyboard arrangements. Some of the samples used give a very chaotic feeling to this release (like on “Experience 835”). The guitar solos are pretty solid and the riffing sounds different, thanks to some harsh distortion used through the album.

Eclectika never looses track of its experimentation and they merge all their styles together in songs like “There is no Daylight in the Darkest Paradise” (one of our favorite songs). We really enjoy when bands put different genres together in a unique way and make it sound great; Eclectika is top notch when it comes to this.

“Dazzling Dawn” is a very interesting album that features plenty of things to attract fans for several genres of Metal. Eclectika manages to arrange all elements in the right way, making their sound very unique and well defined. We are usually weary when it comes to bands experimenting, but with this release we are 100% please with the end result. If you like Gothic Metal/Black Metal and atmospheric stuff, you should definitely check “Dazzling Dawn”.

Release: February 25th, 2010

Country: France