“The road is long, life is short. Walking is hard on the path to glory”
Backdawn apparently don’t just write lyrics, they believe in them; with such music and performance on the record, they surely didn’t just walk on the path to glory, they ran!
Backdawn, the French extreme metal band released their new album I Shall Burn Your Empire as their second release after their debut album Through Extermination in 2013.
The band’s four Frenchmen are Chris Snaeder– Vocals, Lead Guitar, Tisa Helvegr- Guitar, Will Baake- Bass, and Anthony Stone – Drums. Backdawn is musically good as French football players but lyrically they are not good as French poets.
The music in this album is amusing! From the intros of the heavy riffs to the solos and drumming, they were absolutely perfect, they composed everything concerning the music materials professionally and smoothly. Solos were so dazzling that they will get you excited in every track. Also, the breakdowns were so superb that they will undoubtedly get you going.
Lyrics wise, the lyrics weren’t enormously impressive. Handling themes such as distortion and damage, they should have been written in a more powerful and more meaningful manner in order to deliver multiple points. It felt like hit and run at some parts.
One of the negative things about the lyrics is the inconsistency of the voice of the lyrical theme, as well as their un-organization. Sometimes they sought rhymes and gave up on tough themes for the sake of lyrical tunes; while in other parts they neglected the rhymes.
Additionally, the band needs to further highlight its choruses, particularly in vocals. In a couple of tracks you can only tell that these parts, which were being sung was chorus by seeing it indicated in the lyrics.
Concerning the vocals, Chris sometimes gave an impression that he was trying to cope with the fast lane riffs and drums while carrying a heavy load of lyrics – which caused a slight gap in some tracks.
All in all, I believe I enjoyed listening to this album or at least 80% of it. All these developing points were in a couple of tracks but the rest were great.
I Shall Burn Your Empire is highly recommended for angry music fans and the ones who love to strongly bang their heads.
I’d personally rate this album at 7 out of 10.
Edited by: Jailan El-Rafie
