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Dawn of the End is the second full-length album by US thrash metal act Hatchet. Released in 2013, the band behind this album is very much Hatchet Mark II as the line-up has almost entirely changed with only frontman Julz Ramos playing on both of Hatchet’s albums, and he actually only becomes the vocalist of the group as of this album since he only played guitar on the debut Awaiting Evil (2008). Dawn of the End has therefore been a long time coming, especially for such a young band.
I haven’t heard the debut album, but I guess whatever they, or maybe I should just say Julz Ramos, did to get here must have worked like a charm. Dawn of the End is as true an album to the thrash metal genre as you’ll ever find and with the one exception of an acoustic piece in Revelations of Good and Evil it’s an absolutely full throttle album of old school energetic aggression with strong musicianship, something which should not be understated despite the general playing it safe vibe the album gives off. The songs that Hatchet play might not break the mould but do sound pretty demanding and are not without their technical or melodic edge.
Speaking personally though, thrash metal and I have never been the best of friends. No matter how strong the musicianship in a thrash band I usually end up not being able to fully appreciate them because of the prevalent aggressive vocal style, which is the style that Hatchet’s Julz Ramos uses. Yet somehow I’ve found myself liking this guy. Maybe after all these years the thrash metal vocal style is finally opening up to me. Or maybe he’s got that special something that even gets a naysayer on his side. I think I’ll leave that up to you readers to decide, all that matters right now is that Hatchet are here to kick your arse in true thrash metal style. They have the musicianship, they have the attitude and they most especially have the songs to do it, with some personal favourites from the very much high quality album including Silenced by Death, Screams of the Night, Signals of Infection and Vanishing Point.
Dawn of the End has proved to be one of those enigma albums for me. On paper, I shouldn’t like this. I should appreciate what Hatchet did here on my professional objective level, but I shouldn’t like it. But I do. Tell a lie, I don’t like it, I love it. This is an infectious sort of album that will keep you coming back for more and more. An exceptional grade rating is deserved.
89/100
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/hatchet-dawn-of-the-end-t2886.html))