vote
7.0
Once the euphoria of landing has worn off, and the novelty of alien air saturating the lungs with every breath has passed, the second day of exploration on Sedna begins vividly, with the survivors having to reorganize themselves and banish the terror of no longer being able to communicate with the mother base, wherever that may be.
Eight years after their debut “Our Sky Has Changed”, the Viareggio-based band Dawn On Sedna are back on the scene with a line-up that has since been reduced from the original five elements to an essential guitar/bass/drums trio, with occasional synthesizer interventions, which attempts to distance themselves more from their inspiring models (Cult Of Luna above all).
The difference between the two works emerges clearly from the instrumental “World Is Mud”, which is given the task of introducing the album: while in the more aggressive episodes the debut moved confidently on the tracks of a post-metal that marched solemnly as only Amenra know how to do, here the impetuosity is partially mitigated by hypnotic arpeggios that shatter in front of waves of electric chords typical of Isis, without ever giving in to blind rage.
“Write The Stone” is therefore presented as a logbook divided into six chapters, in which the band tries to travel along new blackgaze paths (“I Am”, one of the most interesting songs of the proposal), gives in to the charm of the poignant melody enhancing it with a post-metal arrangement, as Ihsahn could do in his best works (“Every Crack”), or takes as a model the suspended tension of The Ocean Collective before the melodic turning point of “Holocene” (“White Stone”).
Precisely because of the significant changes in the lineup, the differences in sounds and the time elapsed since “Our Sky Has Changed”, the writer is more inclined to consider “Write The Stone” as a sort of restart, rather than the new chapter of an already established band, welcoming its strengths, including the notable harmony between the musicians and in particular the excellent work of the rhythm section formed by Alessandro Tonfoni (drums) and Ronny Taccola (bass).
At the same time, in our opinion the album (and the band in general) still has some weak points, such as the need for more incisive singing and a greater ability to direct the good descriptive ability learned from Cult Of Luna towards a more complete song form. In this perspective, the electric spirals of Neurosis in “Even Memories Die” and the suffocating sludge of “Dance For A Time Out Of Joint” lose the comparison with the suggestions evoked by “World Is Mud”.
Despite a sound that still needs to be perfected, “Write Stone” is still an album with enticing promises, which shows the potential of the trio and gives hope for the content of the next message from the Oort Cloud.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM