Dawn Ray’d – The Unlawful Assembly (2017)

September 1, 2023

Dawn Ray’d seem to get a lot of shit flung at them but I think that this is more to do with their “politics” than their actual music. All that “its just evil riffs bro” shit goes out the fucking window when those NSBM loving edgelords get a whiff of some of the more prominent bands in the RABM scene. If you’re getting filtered by the existence of bands like Dawn Ray’d or idk Feminazgul but clutch your pearls when people call you out on having a Goatmoon patch or something, then you need to take a good fucking look in the mirror. I try to view both sides of the coin from an anthropological standpoint (lol), but the hypocrisy here is unreal. Just thought I’d point that out.

Anyways, The Unlawful Assembly, at first, comes across like good ol’ straight and narrow black metal, but with a lovely production (the drums in particular sound amazing). What’s special about Dawn Ray’d however – as many have already noted over the years – is the inclusion of violin, which really does elevate these compositions to the next level. The only track that’s really a swing and a miss is the closing track, otherwise everything else really is great. It’s a strange feeling to be listening to a black metal record and wondering when the guitars are gonna stop so the violin can come back in – it really does work incredibly well in this setting.

I’m looking forward to playing catch up with the rest of Dawn Ray’d’s work.