Wayward Dawn – House of Mirrors EP

Wayward Dawn

‘House of Mirrors’ EP

Mighty Music

Death Metal

FFO: Baest, Entrails, Bloodbath. Vomitory, Lik

Wayward Dawn have been quite noisy on the death metal scene since the release of their debut album ‘Soil Organic Matter’ in 2018. This was followed in 2019 with a split with Deadflesh and Heretics before releasing their sophomore album ‘Haven of Lies’ earlier this year. Evidently not content to rest upon their laurels, the Danish death metallers are back with an EP ‘House of Mirrors’.

                As the listener would already expect with ‘House of Mirrors’, this EP has that very Scandinavian death metal feel to it; it’s heavy and it is so raw it leaves the listener pondering whether the meat has been cooked at all. Yet, it does not take Einstein to note that this EP only contains two tracks with it not being unheard of for a single to contain more work. Does that mean that ‘House of Mirrors’ quite strongly whiffs of tracks that were maybe not used, omitted for whatever reason or were not ready for the previous album? Actually, yes. These tracks are decent enough, they do contain all the motifs that make Wayward Dawn enjoyable and have all the hallmarks of Baest, Entrails and Bloodbath; but, it does take longer to make a cup of tea than it does for ‘EP’ to play out ,meaning that ‘House of Mirrors’ ends prematurely before the listener has barely began to enjoy it. Yes, you can actually play it again immediately, but that kind of isn’t the point.

                There is no doubt about it that Scandinavian death metal fans will enjoy these two tracks, but ultimately that is all the listener is getting and the price of this EP needs to be reflected accordingly; if it isn’t then sadly, you will not be getting your moneys worth and feeling rather, well, cheated.

Adam McCann