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Venera

    
       
       
       
     
             
Everdawn are a symphonic metal band from the USA formed in 2019, releasing two albums to date - 'Cleopatra' (2021) and 'Venera' (2023).    
             
Founded by four former members of Midnight Eternal - keyboard player Boris Zakas, guitarist Richard Fischer, drummer Dan Prestup and bass player Mike LePond (Symphony X), Everdawn are completed by singer Alina Gavrilenko, and Alan D'Angelo who replaced LePond in 2021. Over the course of the bands short career, Everdawn have toured with Queensryche, Therion and Michael Schenker, reinforcing their position as a rising, and fairly formidable force in the world of symphonic metal - the bands music immensely elegant and majestic featuring out of this world orchestrations, dramatic dynamics, and incredible atmosphere! The new album contains an amazing fourteen songs across an hour and a little bit of staggering symphonic metal - 'Cassiopeia' launching the album in a bold, brash manner, the sound of thundering symphonic metal shuddering the ground! The energy and oomph is incredible, the aural attack astounding, the powerful vocals from Alina shattering the airways. And if the first song is anything to go by, this could well be a belter of an album - 'Century Black' picking up the pace, dropping a gear as it gets going proper to adopt a little of the progressive nature of metal. Yet the chorus break, fuck me it's a gloriously melodic sing a long!    
             
And with a blistering turn of speed, 'Silver Lining' rockets off at high velocity, Everdawn setting the mosh pits on fire with a phenomenal level of head bang ability - every head banger in the world rocking their heads back and forth at an extremely fast rate. The speed of bands such as DragonForce and Victorius appear slow compared to 'Silver Lining', the American outfit breaking limits and outrunning local enforcement with consummate ease! Simply stunning - just like the bands frontwoman Alina, the band storming on with the heavy foot stomper 'Karmic Partner', shuddering the ground with immense force! And did I say foot stomper? Cause Everdawn prove me wrong in the biggest way possible, changing through the gears to blaze a fiery trail of scorching speed, 'Karmic Partner' an irresistible pace changing cacophony of all out metal! What a fantastic array of songs across the albums first four, the band maintaining their emphatic barrage with the heaviest hitting song heard so far, 'Northern Star' shining brightly as it strides tall, and very proud through the genres of symphonic, power and traditional heavy metal. Everdawn may be a symphonic metal band but by crikey they're blending in other styles to absolute perfection!    
             
This has to be one of the biggest surprises of the year, the bold, magnificent nature of Everdawn's music dropping my jaw to the floor with an almighty thud - 'Justify The Means' keeping it there! Is there no end to the gorgeous treats the band have on offer? Apparently not, 'Justify The Means' maintaining the (albums) overall thunderous, fire and brimstone approach, battering everyone and everything outta the way - Everdawn a formidable force of nature that just can't be tamed! But then why would you want to when the music on show is this fucking good! And for the first time since the album began, the familiar mellow serenity of an impending ballad fills the air as 'The Promise' gets underway - for all of the first forty seconds! And then 'The Promise' turns on its heel to become a thundering gallop of hard hitting "foot on the monitor" heavy metal with a strong old school flavour. The band are incredible, plundering a number of metal genres to deliver a mouth-watering metal journey! A journey that's far from over - the fast paced and dramatic driven instrumental 'Crimson Dusk And Silver Dawn' heralding the start of the (albums) second half. Yes readers - the second half! We're only half way through, Everdawn not letting go of their tight grip on my attention, a grip that needn't have been so tight, for the band had my full attention from the very beginning!    
             
Every song up to this point has clocked in at under four minutes in length, the title song 'Venera' the first to exceed the four minute mark, not losing any of the albums glorious punch and pace. In fact, 'Venera' (the song) remains firmly in the realm of foot on the monitor heavy metal, the bands root symphonic nature shining brighter than a thousand suns - have the American five piece just charged into contention for the Album Of The Year award? Methinks so - 'Orion's Belt' keeping the pedal well and truly pressed to the metal, galloping on with an urgency and purpose greater than heard anywhere else, even dropping a gear now and then to adopt a graceful cruise. Is there nothing this band can't do? It appears not - the album moving stealthily on with the mid tempo thunder of 'Images Everlasting', the bold, bombastic nature hitting harder than ever! And the vocals of lead singer Alina soar higher than ever too, soaring way past angels and into outer space!    
             
And hitting like a tonne of bricks, 'Samsara' is an all out bruiser of a metal march, thundering by with incredible purpose and poise, battering every listener with a sonic assault of symphonic power metal - the band continuing to deliver one of the best albums this year! An album that began good, and has just gotten better and better song by song - 'Truer Words Ever Spoken' clocking in at nearly thirteen minutes in length! Clearly the longest song on offer by the proverbial country mile, 'Truer Words Ever Spoken' features everything the band have in their locker, from symphonic power metal to traditional metal with pace, purpose and atmosphere in abundance! And that's all I'm gonna tell ya, for 'Truer Words Ever Spoken' deserves your full attention and not just my words - so off you all go and get your own copy of 'Venera' (the album) and enjoy the magnificence on offer! And bringing the magnificence to an end is one final thunderstorm, 'Beneath The Well' a solid march of metal to round off a simply stunning album of breath taking sights and sounds.    
             
Overall, a fabulous and immensely infectious album of superb symphonic metal full of pace, power and panache.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Metal Gods TV    
             
             
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