UNETHICAL DOGMA – Dawn

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7.5

We talked about Unethical Dogma at the beginning of 2024, on the occasion of their previous EP “Dusk”; less than twelve months later, our band tries again at the halfway point with another twenty minutes of abundant music, apparently distributed only digitally for now.
It is not very difficult to realize how “Dawn” is the conceptual continuation of the previous batch of songs which – narratively – this time deal with the night hours, starting from two in the morning until dawn at six.
If “Dusk” was made up of five pieces, here this time there are seven, even if “03:30am” and “04:30am” are two dark interludes, set primarily on guitar arpeggios (the first) and on keyboards (the second ). Musically, the Venetian Unethical Dogma seem to want to continue their path through djent, nu metal and a pinch of modern Swedish death metal, or as was done at a certain point in their career by Scar Symmetry and Soilwork (an influence that emerges above all in “VHS – 05.00am”).
The basic sound is that of Meshuggah, Periphery and the aforementioned djent, but in the construction of the pieces guitar, drums and even voice sometimes linger in broader territories, often recalling – as already mentioned in the past – the 'modern' and ' crossover' of the last twenty years; Our modernity is therefore also paradoxically classic, given that some of Unethical's musical references have been around for more than twenty-five years now. However, we don't think this is an important aspect to frame “Dawn”, while it is to underline how the leaden atmospheres are always truly part of our overall sound.
The story told in the two EPs is obviously linked to madness and nocturnal discomfort and, after repeated listening, we can say that the five are really able to maintain high attention for the approximately twenty-four minutes proposed. The best moments are certainly the aforementioned “VHS”, with the most memorable melodic vocal line and “Atelophobia – 03.00am”, which thrives on a complex structure and various moods, starting from the clean and distorted guitar parts that overlap in the first part to end with the chaotic electrical explosion of the second.
Are there any improvements from “Dusk”? Yes, the songs seem more cohesive with each other and contribute to strengthening the band's identity, even if they still remain in line with the previous ones and it would be wrong to expect who knows what change of direction, being a narrative continuation. In conclusion, we appreciated Unethical Dogma again and we would now like to see them land a contract with a label and take to some stage in sight, because we think they deserve it.