Dawn of Solace – Affliction Vortex

Dawn of Solace
Affliction Vortex
Label: Noble Demon
Out: February 14^th, 2025
Playing time: 39:19

The Finnish Doom Metal trio Dawn of Solace are the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tuomas Saukkonen (Wolfheart, Before The Dawn). The story goes back to 2005, when he founded this side project. The debut album ‘The Darkness’ was released just one year later. But as is often the case with side projects, the work with the two main bands was more important. So, there was a gap of fourteen years between the debut and the follow-up ‘Waves’. The fact that things went faster after that can probably be assigned to the global coronavirus pandemic. In 2022, the unplugged EP ‘Notes of Perdition’ was released alongside the studio album ‘Flames of Perdition’. This makes ‘Affliction Vortex’ album number four.

The album starts quietly and melancholically with the intro ‘Inception’. Even if I don’t have much left for intros otherwise, this one fits in well with the overall picture. But then! Then Dawn of Solace strike with the Doom mace.  ‘Murder’ is characterised by heavy riffs, which are underpinned by sparse drumming. It gets a little quieter during Mikko Heikkilä’s clean vocals. ‘Fortress’ is played a little faster. Riffs of distorted, low-pitched guitars change their intensity, depending on whether you hear clean vocals or growls. ‘Into The Light’ is even harder and faster. The double bass drives the clear vocals. ‘Rival’ sounds less melancholic overall. The instrumental power is reduced during the calm vocals. The surprise is the Pop attitude during the refrain. It sounds relaxed and almost upbeat. ‘Invitation’ is real Doom again, thanks to the dark walls of guitars. However, I can’t understand why almost all the pressure is taken out of the instrumentation during the clear vocals. The guitar solo, on the other hand, is strong, really powerful. ‘Dream’ is the next song with less melancholy and more positive instrumentation. And there’s another way – here the hard riffs bang during the clearly sung refrain, so heavily distorted that the sound waves literally vibrate. Did I already say that? Oh yes, deep, distorted riffs also dominate ‘Perennial’. And clear vocals, alternating with evil growls. Dawn of Solace have saved the best for last. ‘Mother Earth’ is also by far the longest song on the album. Guitar melodies, heavy riffs and pumping bass provide plenty of noise here. Noise in a positive sense. There is also the last alternating vocal ‘Beauty and the Beast’. The drumming also stands out from the often-heard mediocrity. The keyboards at the end sound like something from another world. The end of this song and the entire album is therefore quite surprising.

For a Doom Metal album, ‘Affliction Vortex’ is surprisingly varied. The closing song ‘Mother Earth’ in particular scores highly. With a few exceptions, the drumming is merely average. Perhaps Tuomas Saukkonen shouldn’t do (almost) everything on his own after all. He should rather get a specialist on board for the drums. Nevertheless, Dawn of Solace have released a good Doom Metal album that fans of this genre should definitely give a chance.

Dawn of Solace – Invitation: https://youtu.be/rxbhNg6jcqc?si=V1FCH7I79i4YkjZ5

Lineup:

Tuomas Saukkonen – Drums, Guitars, Bass, Growling Vocals
Mikko Heikkilä – Clean Vocals, Growling Vocals
Saku Moilanen – Keys

Track list:

• Inception
• Murder
• Fortress
• Into The Light
• Rival
• Invitation
• Dream
• Perennial
• Mother Earth