DAWN OF DESTINY is a German Neo-Classical Symphonic Metal band known for their massive compositions and excellent attention to detail when crafting their music. They use clean female and both clean and harsh male vocals to accentuate and enhance the variety of instruments used to create incredible soundscapes. Their latest offering, "Of Silence," was released June 24, 2022, via El Puerto Records.

The album opens slowly, beginning with a keyboard and some ethereal strings. "We Are Your Voice" is a gentle tune that features a slow build as the song gets bigger and bigger in scope. The vocals are a combination of male and female voices that use everything from eerie whispers to clean belts and gritty screams. The keys provide a lot of atmospheric tones after the intro and the rhythm varies from airy to heavy. The guitars are not lost in the mix, but they do play a more subdued role for much of the song, stepping out front at points of emphasis.

Having previously worked with Jon Oliva and Zak Stevens of SAVATAGE fame and Bjorn Speed Strid of SOILWORK, they brought in Chris Harms from LORDS OF THE LOST to provide some extra power to the track "Childhood." The song is more unapologetically symphonic than the previous tracks. There are vocalizations behind Chris' leads at the start, though they turn to harmonies later. The rhythm has a nice chugging pattern, really driving the tempo. That guitar work on the bridge is quite excellent.

"Say My Name" is again string heavy for the intro. DAWN OF DESTINY does write some epic string music. Those sections are well-placed and fit beautifully. The song gets the proper amount of heaviness later, showing that this band can shift gears within a track and stay perfectly on course.

"White Mystery" has a tribal feel to the rhythm and that carries through on the riff as well. The vocals are choppy and layered, fitting into the phrase nicely. The shift into a world music style goes over well here.

For a change of pace, we move to "Little Flower," a power ballad that gives a bit of a break at the halfway point of the record. Up to this point, the music has been pretty heavy, so this little bit of prettiness lets us take a breath and get ready for the back half of the disc. In true power ballad style, there is a seriously melodic guitar solo that makes this song feel complete. It is both new and familiar at the same time.

From "Burning Heart" to "Inner Voice," we get a series of excellent tracks that have the right amount of heavy with interludes of melodic, including more tribal sounds on "The Curse." Done with strings and drums, it really strikes a cool tone.

The record finishes off with a nice bit of flair on "This Is Our Legacy." The neo-classical feel of the intro is a killer addition to this album. It fits in with the rest of the world music stylings, like the tribal phrases in earlier songs. The composition is massive on this track, covering power, progressive and neo-classical metal all within seven and half minutes.

DAWN OF DESTINY open and close this record with epic songs meant to introduce and conclude the story. They accomplish this feat with delicacy and aggression in equal measure. Lyrically, the album is poignant, detailing some of the horrors of World War II and making sure to remind us to not let history repeat itself. 80 years later, this is still a lesson we need to hear. They tell the tale creatively, making it a necessary piece of work in the history of music and the world.