The Everdawn - Poems - Burn the Past (1997)

Poems - Burn the Past moves even closer to its Swedish peers than the Opera of the Damned EP, and this definitely feels like an album you'd turn to if you couldn't get enough Slaughter of the Soul. I always liked the sort of swashbuckler or Western vibe the cover to this one gave me, but I suppose it's more to represent some Romantic poet or reader who is ready to execute himself over some lost or unreturned love? Don't know what that has to do with the thrashing, propulsive tunes on this disc, but I do think it has a classy aesthetic to it that I remember to this day, and not as digitally cheesy in graphic design as a lot of other stuff that was out on Invasion Records. But yes, The Everdawn's only full-length did feel like a bit of a clone of their better-known countrymen, only that's not enough to write it off due to its solid execution.

I should say that there is actually a streak of In Flames with a lot of the riffing, it sounds like its ad a median between Slaughter of the Soul and Colony. Thick rhythm guitars thrashing and thundering along, with some triplet chugging that alternates well with the more atmospheric, open chords that they will often use to back up a chorus. The vocals here are much more Lindberg-like than the prior EP, but they also remind me a little of Mille from Kreator when he's straining himself. Oskar Karlsson's drumming on this was fantastic, he is a missed talent from this scene, and he applies such an even and fiery force to it all that you can't help but get swept up into the riffing, which is itself quite good in tracks like "Needlework" or "Autumn, Sombre, Autumn", the latter of which has the vocalist screaming at an even higher pitch which is ironically a foreshadowing of how Lindberg sounds on some of the most recent At the Gates post-reunion releases. They also have a few places, like "Burn" in which they go for a slightly simpler, rocking pace and it works well in contrast to the more involved mamterial.

Poems - Burn the Past is certainly 'heavily inspired', and perhaps even a knockoff for those who don't want to give it the time of day, but it is a worthwhile album that builds upon their EP and hones in on the songwriting first and foremost. It doesn't rival a band like Darkane or Soilwork who took this formula into all new places, but every detail here is well implemented, from the leads to the drums and I can say little more negative about it than it's just a trendy example of the style. Fortunately, the music and mix are strong enough that it's a good, evergreen glimpse into a band walking in the considerable footsteps of an album that essentially changed the world of heavy metal, uniting the European and American sides of the genre and turning a universe of wallet-chained mallcore maniacs onto 'the good stuff'. Looks cool, sounds cool, I listen to it sporadically and it's another reason I miss Invasion.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

The Everdawn - Opera of the Damned EP (1996)

The Everdawn was an obscure melodic death metal act out of Sweden, and another of the several projects featuring the late Oskar Karlsson on the drums. This band took on a more standard style reminiscent of an At the Gates, although there were some marginal differences. For instance, the snarls here were only partly akin to Lindberg, they had more of a mealy-mouthed feel to them, but still some of that sinister bird of prey vibe that he mastered the year before this with Slaughter of the Soul. The tunes also have a more rock & roll vibe in a few spots, perhaps a bit more blues to the lead construction, but it's certainly not death & roll, because by and large the music here feels similar to that of their more popular peers, but by no means a direct ripoff of any one.

Opera of the Damned is a tight, intense EP with a good mix of fast and mid-paced EP that show the range they are capable of, and although their basic chord constructions might have felt a little predictable like many of the B- or C-tier melodeath squads, the 15 minutes of material is always exciting, the melodic outbreaks placed just perfectly to keep you hooked throughout. You want harmonies, you got them. You want to blast off, you got it, in fact I think the material here would even sate those tracking down some melodic Swedish black metal, like a more rock-oriented Dissection variant. It's not the most memorable stuff out there, and not even among the most memorable that would enter that Invasion Records family (after this EP), but this is timeless, effective, and produced well enough that it's still worth spending a little time with here or there.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]