Abysmal Dawn – Leveling The Plane Of Existence

The third full-length studio release of the Los Angeles death metalheads is out and the album’s artwork definitely got my hopes up. Abysmal down have delivered deadly sounds in their previous work “From Ashes” and “Programmed To Consume”. One could characterize the album and the whole style of the band as a modern or even developmental death in terms of structure and musical consistency.

Abysmal Dawn’s work in the current album, Leveling The Plane of Existence pushes out to the crowd vocal and musical brutality , speed, and virtuosity. Heavy riffs and shredding solo’s are apparent and lyrical superiority can definitely mark the whole album. Founder Charles Elliott (guitars, vocals), Mike Cosio (bass) and Scott Fuller (drums) create a nicely fitted compilation and even though it does not lack musical technicality in the meantime leaves the sense of something that is innate. Let me tell you guys and I am sure you will agree, we all need to have clear, not organic sounds “tingling “our ears, sounds that come freely from the musician, sounds that are pure, and Abysmal Dawn do achieve that. Someone would say that there is a resemblance with Morbid Angel’s work, there is indeed some similarity, however that does not mark out that the guys have done an excellent job.

The album has numerous memorable riffs, deep growling vocals and shooting-like drumming that makes you bang, this is evident in songs like “In Service of Time” (this song is unbelievable!!) & “Rapture Renowned”. The opening instrumental, “The Age of Ruin”, prepare us that we will face venom, brutality and heaviness in all its majesty. “Pixilated Ignorance” is an extremely heavy and energetic track that characterizes the band, filled up with heavy riffs and quite a few solo’s, surely death metal fans will appreciate everything this song delivers. On the other hand and in contrast to “Pixilated Ignorance”, “Perpetual Dormancy” revolves around with guitar riffing and even more solos, brutal vocals are trademark in this one. At this point, I have to admit, I did not felt even a slight bored while listening to this album, basically due to track to track variation.

“My Own Savior”, is a much slower and heavy, the guitar solo stands out amazingly producing a dark hellish atmosphere when combined with the rhythm guitar, bass and drums.
The last song of the album, entitled, “The Sleeper Awakens” has a complete different approach, it is even darker, more atmospheric and mysterious that clearly “pops out” from the rest tracks of the album. The latter could easily be found in a black metal album, musically-wise, with a stunning guitar solo accompanying it. It is nice to experiment, isn’t it? That song is my cup of tea, a masterpiece and, yes, why not experiment if the end result does , indeed, worth it!?!

Abysmal Dawn have a plan, a well structured plan, that is, to deliver great deadly sounds combining music technicality, sensation and experimentation. The band definitely knows their limits, they know what they can achieve however they challenge them and us…Highly recommended to all death metal fans out there, it is one of the albums that is worth listening. Metalheads, Abysmal Dawn have what it takes to knock out your Existence with this one. Hell yeah!

Standout tracks: “In Service Of Time”, “Rapture Renowned”, “My Own Saviour”, “The Sleeper Awakens” & “Perpetual Dormancy”.