Throes of Dawn
Quicksilver Clouds
7
No one does depression like those Finns. Throes of Dawn has been kicking around long enough to release four full-lengths, but have somehow stayed under my radar. Quicksilver Clouds is a hard album to classify, unless you consider “dark metal” to be a legitimate subgenre. They combine gothic atmospherics with the outlook of doom and topping it off with a varied vocal assortment that ranges from droning clean voices to a black metal screech. The keys are mainly ambient, while the guitars are driven by chords. Somber leads like those that The Prophecy would play arise from time to time. When they slow the pace down, Throes of Dawn manage to sound a bit like the Swedes of Tiamat, and maybe even a little like Daylight Dies. All in all, there’s a definite Finnish sound running through this album, more specifically in the guitar work and the occasional keyboard lines that peek through.
Throes of Dawn frequently transition from grating, harsh sections, into dreamier passages with haunting clean vocals that remind me of a livelier Canaan (for those familiar with them). Such is the case on “Hyperion”, which rises above the rest on the strength of a wandering lead that carries through the last few minutes of the song. Another fine track in this pattern (sans the long finale) is “Vertigo”. “Transcendence” is the pinnacle of their clean vocal usage, with the drones making up the vast majority of the vocals in this track, and as such, it’s a damn good song. Throes of Dawn would be better served by scaling back on the harsh vocals, which dominate most of the songs on here, and which just get a little unnerving over time. “Transcendence” is the perfect example of how they can keep it heavy, without relying on the screams. This effort is helped by a formfitting production that puts the emphasis wherever it needs to be. The keys are brought out when they have something to add, and the guitars are kept back when they are just filling the silence.
For a voyage through a world of despair and desperation, look into Quicksilver Clouds. The composition is full of depth and detail, and while I feel that certain aspects of their sound should be heavily emphasized, the album remains pretty consistent, and a fulfilling listen overall.
