Dawnbringer - Snake (2020)

Snake is another unusual highway stop in the Dawnbringer trajectory, an album that very heavily leans of heavy metal traditions but also tries to mix a few of them together into a novel outcome. Gone (but not entirely gone) are the melancholic strains of Night of the Hammer, and in its place we've got what feels like a modern tribute to London's grimiest sons Motörhead. There are riffs here or there which feel exactly like them, as in the uncomfortably "Iron Fist" intro to "Out of Mind", or the bridge of "Paradise Lust", or "Killed by Death", etc being contained as a medley in "Inferno" (also, coincidentally an album title). Others seem more to capture that punk/metal/speed in spirit, like the opener "Return to the Shrine" which doesn't quite clone Lemmy and the boys, but plays around in the same sort of sandbox. And I think that was the better way to approach this. Then you have a few of the band's further embellishments, a melodic sensibility which is more reminiscent of other NWOBHM bands or maybe some Thin Lizzy, or Chris Black's other band Superchrist which is a little more rock & roll to begin with.

It's an odd choice as a follow-up to their style from a few years before, but as more of a tribute to Lemmy who had ben gone a half-decade by this time, it at least delivers on the studio mix and energy. While I wish they hadn't included a few of those too-close, albeit brief mirror riffs, there are also some tunes which feel rather unique in that bass-driven speed/heavy sound, like "The Idea of Progress" with its great glaze of melodies and guitar effects, or "Twisting the Nest" with the great bass lines and snaky grooves, or "Loyal to Death" which puts an almost atmospheric, poppy polished spin on this sort of rock & roll. The bass tone is awesome throughout, as is the guitar tone, everything, with Chris continuing some of his more refined vocals. The best produced Dawnbringer record? Quite possibly, but only in service to a hybrid of styles that don't feel much like their own. Granted, there has always been a Motörhead influence in the vocals of this band, and some of the riffs, sure, but I feel like a project as this one could have been more effective if they changed the name, excluded any direct covering of riffs or tracks and just gone with something in that style, all dressed up with their own penchant for melodies and other influences.

I do realize this was allegedly written long ago, finished around the time of Lemmy's passing and was never meant to be a proper release. There's nothing malign about it, it's an independent release and by no means some sort of cheap commercial cash-in on a tragic loss. However, once you smack it down into the Dawnbringer lineage it kind of sticks there, and thus feels like another weird anomaly in a steady progression of them. Plenty of style here, also some substance, Chris Black clearly groks his inspiration and even expands upon it; he's a talented chap, but the presence of the direct referential licks/covers kind of betrays what could be an amazing peripheral tribute to one of the greatest musical institutions our ball of mud has spewed forth. It's also just not that memorable other than the strange story of its very existence. It's fine, but I'm never choosing it over the original article, nor am I choosing it over records like Unbleed, Nucleus, Sun God or Night of the Hammer. It remains as just a curiosity and hopefully a speed (metal) bump on the road to their next original work.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]