DARK FOREST — Dawn of Infinity (review)

DARK FOREST — Dawn of Infinity album cover

Album · 2011 · Heavy Metal

5/5 · 2011-09-08
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Dawn of Infinity is the second album by UK metal act Dark Forest. The 2011 album is the first full-length to feature the vocals of new singer Will Lowry-Scott, who replaced the self-titled debut’s vocalist Christian Horton for the 2009 EP Defender. Horton remains with the group as a guitarist however. There are several bands with the Dark Forest moniker, so this one should not be confused with a number of black metal artists that share the name, most notably the Canadian act that released the 2006 album Aurora Borealis. This Dark Forest is planted firmly on the fine line between traditional heavy and power metal, and their love of the 80’s is very evident on Dawn of Infinity, just as it was on the 2009 debut.

Dark Forest’s debut was a good album. This is better, and Will Lowry-Scott is the main reason for that. Although Lowry-Scott was actually introduced with Defender, it is here where he really establishes his place within the band. While Christian Horton carried the debut well enough bringing in a new singer was clearly the right way to go for Dark Forest, as their retro sounding heavy/power metal sound remains, but topped off with stronger vocals that fit right into the sound the band has been going for, makes Dawn of Infinity a real treat to listen to. This is one of those albums that against all expectations just comes out of nowhere to upset the albums you’d previously considered the best of their year.

A major different between Dawn of Infinity and the self-titled debut is that the few folk influences that cropped up on the album (in the track Dark Forest for example), seem to have been dropped. This isn’t really a good or a bad thing, but it is worth noted regardless that the lack of them allows the album to rock out from start to finish and on that note the sound really grabs you with its classic riffs and melodic leads, and the songs have some great lyrical hooks to get you singing along in much the same way that a classic Iron Maiden track does, and why not, because the album has a sound that makes you think it could have been recorded at the same time. Their love of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal is pretty evident here, but there is more than a little nod towards Maiden. They’re no clone act though, even if they do wear their influences proudly on their sleeves. Dark Forest may not really bring anything new to the table, but with an album such as this that was never really the intention, and as it goes Dawn of Infinity is just as good as many albums from the era the band evidently worships.

It’s only when an album as old school as this comes along that one really realises how polished modern heavy and power metal has become. Don’t get me wrong, modern bands can produce some really amazing music, but there’s an extra level of honest passion in the music of Dark Forest that I just don’t detect in some overproduced artists music, and the release is still professionally done in that they’ve intentionally gone for this sort of sound, and nailed it perfectly.

With songs such as Hourglass, Lightyears On, The Stars My Destination (which appears to be based on the classic science fiction novel of the same name by Alfred Bester), and the amazing closer Deadly Premonition I dare to say that Dawn of Infinity is potentially the best heavy/power metal album of the year. I cannot recommend it enough.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.9/10)