Dawn of Azazel is one of my favorite bands and I thought it would be fun to take a look at and review their discography. One of the things that makes this band so interesting is that singer/bassist Rigel Walshe made the New Zealand evening news when it came to light that he, a police constable, moonlights as the singer in a metal band with the kind of violent lyrics and imagery that the band has exhibited.
VITA EST MILITIA SUPER TERRAM (demo 2000)
This is actually Dawn of Azazel's second demo. Their first is extremely difficult to find. I know, because I have called in favors with every metalhead I know and scoured far and wide across the internet to find it. I even contacted the band itself to find out if they knew where to find it, to no avail. Oh well.
Since I can't speak to what is on the first demo, I will start here. By this point, Dawn of Azazel's sound had pretty much already been polished. By polished, I mean that the extremely chaotic nature of their music had been discovered and put to good use. Dawn of Azazel's music is like the theme to the most destructive battlefield in history.
Three of the four tracks on this cassette would appear on their first full length album, while the fourth appeared on the Bloodforged Abdication 7" single. The vocals are not real fleshed out yet, but it is very clearly the same band as recorded the next few albums. The production is surprisingly good for a demo as well.
BLOODFORGED ABDICATION (single 2002)
Dawn of Azazel's next recording was a 7" vinyl-only single featuring the song "Bloodforged Abdication", which does not appear on either of their full-length albums. The production has improved and the band sounds even more chaotic, if that's possible.
The B side is a cover of the Order from Chaos song "Plateau of Invincibility." I am not familiar with the original so I can't speak to how faithful it is, but as this version sounds like a Dawn of Azazel song, I would assume that the band put it's own spin on it. Not that that is a bad thing at all.
THE LAW OF THE STRONG (full-length 2004)
The very first full length album from Dawn of Azazel was everything that the previous recordings promised. A sonic battery of pounding drums, jagged guitar riffs, and the inhuman shrieking growls of Rigel Walshe. Walshe's vocals are unintelligible, even with the aid of a lyric sheet, but that does not make them any less devastating. The band has been known to perform live wearing gasmasks, making for an imposing live spectacle as well as being completely fitting for the music.
This album features my favorite Dawn of Azazel song "Justice is a Fist." The album is an incredibly brutal display of blackened death metal that leaves the listener gasping for breath.
As a bonus to the vinyl collectors, Dawn of Azazel put an additional track "In Flagellation of Eden" onto the record that was not available on the CD.
SEDITION (full-length 2005)The second full-length release from the band is no less destructive than the first. This was the first and only album to feature Martin Cavanagh on drums. Cavanagh brought a little better sense of rhythm to the madness but still could blast with the best of them. Other than that, all the elements that made their previous album so great are back at full force.
At this point, there has not been any news about a new album although the band posted some new demo tracks in April of last year. Hopefully they will put out a new album soon. It has been three-plus years since Sedition and I am anxious to hear the band put out something new.
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