1st January 2022

Review: “Betrayed” by Dawnbringer

The growth of the Italian Deathcore scene in recent years has been an absolute pleasure to behold over the past few years and rising like a pheonix from the ashes of No Gravity in 2019, Cagliari Italy Beatdown Deathcore outfit Dawnbringer looked to set it alight with their debut EP “Betrayed“. Dropped in February 2021, produced, recorded and mixed by Lorenzo Mariani at Overcore Studio (Regrowth, Sodio) with drums acquisition by Raphael Saini, mastering by Paolo Mulas and artwork by Gimmy Derka, this is one of those retrospective reviews we hope you can sink your teeth into.

Beatdown, Deathcore, Metalcore, Downtempo and Hardcore are all the elements and influences wrapped into one harmonious hermonginois mass that is “Betrayed“, with Dawnbringer front loading each with abrasive bombastic riffs, narly throat splitting barks and thunderous percussion. The opening title track is mearly atmosphere, the calm building into the storm and the kind of set opening cut that warms the crowd up before the pit becomes a frenzied mass of sweaty bodies. That continues into the start of “Burning Eyes” like a conjoined twin before the band go hell for leather in total decimation of the weak with razor sharp stuccato riffage and artillery shelling drums that stand up to those vicious vocals like the mixer for your triple measure of bourbon. The tempo shifts have to be perfectly executed because when it comes down to brass tacks there is no place to hide and Dawnbringer have them nailed, even affording some Iggor Cavalera era Sepultura inspired drum parts on “O7O” and then there are those bass drives that are straight out of the New York Hardcore scene. That actually sets up “Upside Down” nicely with its Bury Your Dead esq guitars tinged with menacing lead moments, a Hardcore fueled Deathcore track that even manages a Slam roar making it nothing short of a mosh pit friendly and straight up fun two step banger. The searing vocals shatter glass at twenty paces, pure fire being spat throughout the angished “Point Of No Return” which is brutality at its finest for your ear drums before “Dead Inside” comes out swinging with groove laden riffs to kill for. It’s not complicated and it doesn’t need to be to be an anvil heavy damn good time [7/10]

Track listing