For a "rocking" good time with a gothic metal band...check out Charon's The Dying Daylights!
Written: Nov 06 '03 (Updated Nov 06 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Catchier tunes and more “rocking” than ever before = more commercially accessible!
Cons: None...but can you imagine a depressed Jim Morrison fronting a modern gothic metal band?
The Bottom Line: The album effectively blends two musical styles together and sits perfectly between what is Rock and what is Metal?
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| vanwarp's Full Review: The Dying Daylights - Charon Movies |
Charon is a relatively unknown band in North America. But in their own country of origin, when they released the first single “In Trust of No One” off their third studio album The Dying Daylights in 2003, that song immediately shot to number one on Finnish singles chart. That is the kind of attention this band gets in their homeland. Now in North America, they may appear like just another Finnish metal band, but as you will find out here...Charon is much more than that!
I Love these guys! The way they blend their style of soft metal with some very clear lively rock influences is quite unique. Also, J.P. Leppäluoto’s deep soothing vocal lines are exquisitely raw on this album and the fact that he often sings on a higher octave just adds to the overall experience, his best performance to date. Furthermore, the way his voice is mixed in with the backing vocals for more high energy impact is simply phenomenal. Nobody does it better! Whoever thought about adding both Jenny Heinonen and Marco Hietala on backround vocals should be given a gold medal or something because this threesome together make pure magic...they simply blew me away. What an explosive team! You couldn’t possibly take more advantage of Leppäluoto’s voice than the way it was done on this album. Kudos for this stroke of genius!
Leppäluoto writes sad grief-ridden songs and performs them with what I call an upbeat attitude, its just perfect for this genre and style of music. There’s also a good variety of keys used on this album, a very interesting “organ” sound that is used most effectively here. The nuances and atmospheres created on this album are some of the best you will find on any of their albums. At times, for instance during the verse on the opening track “Failed”, Leppäluoto’s voice reminded me of Jim Morrison of The Doors. But Charon are really nothing like The Doors, for openers, they are much heavier.
In addition to the very cool keyboard work, the boys have matured some on their instruments. There’s a big improvement on guitars with better all round solos. The bass appears to have taken a more pronounced role in the mix, a more enhanced beefed up sound, and I really like it this way. It makes the band sound fresh and original.
I’ve been listening to The Dying Daylights for at least one week straight now. There’s a lot of great music on here. I guess the biggest thing for me was the overall quality of the vocals and the music. God only knows that these guys have created nothing but excellent music, and they have continually pushed forward fine tuning their craft with each new release.
Here’s a little Band History:
1992 - Charon is founded by Antti Karihtala (drums), Teemu Hautamäki (bass), Pasi Sipilä & Jasse Hast (guitars).
1993 - demo - "Inexorable Reciprocation"
1994 - demo - “Dies Irae”
1995 - Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto officially joins the band, they record their third demo - "Pilgrimage".
1997 - "Serenity" music video... - Emanzipation Productions (EMZ) signs Charon.
1998 - The band moves to Danish Diehard Records.
1998 - Charon releases their debut album: Sorrowburn.
1999 - 2nd full length album Tearstained is released in november/december.
2000 - Spring Tour with Sentenced.
2000 - Summer - Charon leaves Danish Diehard Records and signs to Spinefarm Records.
2001 - Summer - Downhearted - the album was recorded in BRR studios.
2002 - February - "Little Angel" - #1 video on Nordisc video list
2002 - April - Downhearted was released and climbs to #3 on the Finnish album charts.
2002 - Autumn European tour with Nightwish and After Forever.
2003 - Charon releases "The Dying Daylights".
2003 - The single "In Trust of No One" grabs position #1 on the Finnish singles chart.
2003 - September - "Religious/Delicious" - #8 on the Finnish singles chart.
Present line-up:
Juha-Pekka Leppaluoto: vocals (Poisonblack)
Jasse von Hast: guitars
Pasi Sipila: guitars
Temu Hautamaki: bass
Antti Karihtala: drums
Guest Appearances on The Dying Daylights:
PASI SIPILÄ and MIKA POHJOLA - Keyboards, loops and programming
MIKA POHJOLA - Additional keyboards
JENNY HEINONEN - Backing vocals
MARCO HIETALA (ex-Tarot lead vocalist) - Backing vocals
AGONY PATROL - Additional backing vocals on "No saint"
The album includes a guest appearance on backing vocals by NIGHTWISH/ex-SINERGY bassist Marco Hietala and Jenny Heinonen. The latter had performed a similar role on the group's last two albums, Downhearted and Tearstained.
The cover artwork for the album was completed by artist extraordinaire Travis Smith (Katatonia, Death, Testament, Opeth, etc.).
The Dying Daylights was tentatively or originally going to be released as Dead Man Walking. But the album was finally released as The Dying Daylights continuing on a theme started some time ago by other “metal” acts before them. In 2001, we had Green Carnations Light of Day, Day of Darkness. In 2002 we got Sentenced’s The Cold White Light. And earlier this year we got Beyond Daylight by Vanden Plas. Does everyone understand the inference to “dark” themes or to “darkness” in general?
Genre: Modern Gothic Rock/Metal
Label: Spinefarm/Universal Music
Released in Canada: October 10, 2003
Official Band URL: http://www.charon.cjb.net/
Similar in a way to: Sentenced, Entwine, Lullacry, Poisonblack, H.I.M.
Track Listing: (rating & a brief comment)
01 - Failed - (****)
- failed intro as well, but once the song gets going everything falls into place -
02 - Religious/Delicious - (****)
- second single currently climbing Finnish singles chart (#16 last week) -
03 - Death can dance - (****)
- it’s all good so far but the best has yet to come...
04 - In brief war - (*****)
- first sign of the bands greatness...
05 - Guilt on skin - (*******)
- very “rocking” just like “Sister Misery”, my FAV track on the album...
06 - Unbreak, Unchain - (****)
- atmospheric intro, slow paced track...the closest thing to a ballad.
07 - Drive - (****)
- More rock, very upbeat vibe...
08 - Every failure - (*****)
- for me this heavy track contains some of the best vocals on the album...
09 - In trust of no one - (*****)
- first single, went straight to number 1 on Finnish singles chart.
10 - If - (*****)
- fast paced...another highlight, just an outstanding track!
11 - No saint - (*****)
- one of the lengthier slow paced tracks on the album...excellent performance! (For me, in a most haunting way, it was like Jim Morrison coming back to life in a metal band! The album ends with a siren and emergency personnel talking on their radio equipment...very effective ending here!)
Bonus tracks available only on digi-pack:
12 Built for my ghosts
13 Re-collected
Sample Lyrics:
“IN BRIEF WAR”
“Despite the things I’ve said the crush no longer care.
Beyond the smile I hate and the more I hate the more I think of you.
The more I think of you.”
“GUILT ON SKIN”
“She dances the dark side of the moon,
She’s overdose,
The beauty in cold.
Cold,
Just to feel that I’m alive,
Just to feel the guilt on skin.”
Final Thoughts:
If you enjoyed Entwine’s Time of Despair or H.I.M.’s latest release Love Metal or even Poisonblack’s Escapexstacy, then you are simply going to love this album. If you haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about here, just never mind those three discs, it doesn’t matter that they were good, The Dying Daylights is simply the better album right now, hands down!
My Extreme-o-Meter music scale: (recently updated and lengthened considerably)
This scale is provided to help better situate the style and genre of music reviewed here...from the least extreme to the most extreme metal music you could find on the planet! At the beginning of my scale you’ll find more mild, mainstream metal. In the middle, the transition area of the scale you’ll find mostly Progressive/Neoclassical/Speed/Power Metal. While at the end of the scale you’ll find nothing but Total Metal Madness and Brutal Bone Crushing Music.
01. Lacuna Coil/Entwine/The Gathering/Anathema
02. Samael/Poisonblack/Theater of Tragedy/Paradise Lost/I Mother Earth
03. Van Halen/Ozzy Osbourne/Three Days Grace/Type O Negative/Charon
04. Creed/SOAD/Papa Roach/Soil/Chevelle
05. Sentenced/Lullacry/Tad Morose/Katatonia/Anthrax
06. Iron Maiden/Metallica/Pantera/Passenger
07. Dream Evil/Helloween/Masterplan/Brainstorm/Primal Fear/Nocturnal Rites
09. Sonata Arctica/Evergrey/Stratovarius/Blind Guardian/Nightwish
10. Rhapsody/Edguy/Threshold/Green Carnation/Vanden Plas
11. Tourniquet/Shadows Fall/Nevermore
12. Sepultura/Opeth/Insomnium
13. In Flames/Dark Tranquility/Meshuggah/Soilwork
14. Rotting Christ/Overkill/Nightrage
15. Unearth/Atreyu/Avenged Sevenfold
16. Immortal/Kalmah/Skyfire/Dimmu Borgir
17. The Haunted/Testament/Lamb of God/Corporation 187
18. Children of Bodom/Gardenian/Amon Amarth
19. Death/Napalm Death/Mastodon
20. Malevolent Creation/Cannibal Corpse
~Vanwarp~
Recommended:
Yes
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vanwarp
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Location: Canada
Reviews written: 271
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About Me:
"Only sick music makes money today." Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844 - 1900)
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