On October 31 2020, a mostly sole member musical band entitled DAWNBREAKER released a Christian medieval fantasy story about a "Plague Hunter" who is called by the pope to combat spiritual forces in a land devastated by a plague: this is a thematic & programmatic allegory to represent the corona pandemic; and, the hours DAWNBREAKER spent in prayer for neighbors in New York City. DAWNBREAKER'S previous releases include "Total Depravity" from September 2019;  and "Deus Vult" from May 2018.

"Summoned by Christ's Vicar" is the album opening track and serves as an overture for the release. Beginning with sounds of howling winds - and percussive sounds resembling those of horse hooves cantering upon earthen turf; keyboards resembling stringed orchestration quickly enter in preparation for the sound of the whinnying horse at about twenty five seconds into the overture; orchestral string sounds introduce a programmatic theme-accompanied by like sounds of the glockenspiel.  A Vocal Chorus adds demonic-perhaps angelic harmonies behind themes between a synthesized organ and the programmatic strings-again accented by programmatic sounds of the glockenspiel.

"Evil's Bane" - The second album track opens with one minute of pure metal-and a synthesizer adds subtler sounds of piano beneath synthesized undertones of connotative darkness. Heavily distorted rhythm guitars add a greater degree of impetuous strength than I've yet heard in similar genres-and the speed of the unmuted distorted rhythm guitar exacerbates the aggression. Rather than continuous double picking on the higher guitar strings we hear shorter bouts varied by a greater mix of unmuted rhythm guitar; this allows for the heaviness of the distorted rhythm guitar to better intensify the overall viciousness of the sound.

At about the fourth minute a demonic perhaps angelic sounding vocal chorus presents guest vocalist Brian Gawaski - sing "A plague of darkness has draped the land / Cloaking all in mournful terrors / But the morning sun will light the sky / And vanquished will be the horrible night." For the final minute - Cullen Toner resumes with vocals "I have come to bring light in his name / to the darkest depths for the rest of my days / And I wield the sword of evil's bane / The word of truth, by which demons are slain!".

"The Virtuous Guest" - the third album track opens with an immense degree of heavily distorted rhythm guitar - and this is wonderful. It's nearly difficult to imagine how Cullen Toner saturates this timbre so well. The motif varies between a minor third, which then returns to the root-to then ascend to the ominous tritone. Before the verses begin, a solo guitar line arpeggiated through a minor progression allowing for a pleasantly disturbing "string ring" of enharmonic dissonance. Again moments of double picking of higher guitar strings occurs - but are variably short in duration and are often replaced by unmuted bouts of distortion on the lower strings of the rhythm guitar - well mixed with bass, cementing listeners into (if not pleasantly against!) the tonic root.  Although lyrically Christain, the depth of aggression here is real-nicely enhanced by variation. If the immensity of rhythm guitar distortion in any way conveys Hell here on Earth-so well exemplified through the war against this current plague, then DAWNBREAKER has successfully brought this musical allegory to life.

"Bridge Between Worlds" - the fourth album track is a song for which The Vision Of God Ministries and Records released a lyric video. As a drummer Cullen Toner is incredibly fast - and fluently transitions rudimentary drum rolls from tom to floor tom to bass drum with perfect legato precision. What better battle preparation against a beast than with a flesh and blood feast?  Throughout this production I've wondered whether I'd hear a guitar solo. Cullen Toner epitomizes this distinction: utilizing higher octaves,  he double picks the root of the chord progression at four times the speed; so like a slithering snake, he scales the diatonic melody-weaving around passing tones with sinuous melodic curves; at the peak he descends in an unlikely diatonic retroversion; and the more I hear of this unlikely diatonic retroversion, the less I dislike loving it (trust I don't dislike this at all - quite the opposite!).  Negations negate to create a positive continuum. Aristotle could not have better written that which Dawnbreaker mellifluously convey.

"Torment of Anti-Christain Souls" - the fifth album track opens with extremely fast rhythm guitars & a vocal chorus straight out'a Hell; double picking on the low 'e' string bears a heaviness and a viciousness unprecedented among the darker genres of metal. "Plague Hunters" - the sixth album track is keyboard piece replete with piano replications - close position chord inversions among the low piano register with open, wide intervallic spacings among the mid-to-high registers.   The overall connotative presence is that of an ominous feeling nearly that of nausea-so apropos in this horrific Covid-19 plague. "Yours Is The Night" - the seventh album track opens with a demonic chorus-the Corona plague; and before the first minute passes, immensely distorted guitars scratch out this rhythm. A fast thrash snare drum beat accompanies this track with a hellish demonic vocal chorus conveying the spiritual battle DAWNBREAKER fights.

"A Martyr's Glory" - the eighth album track opens with classic black metal double picking along the higher guitar strings; yet before thirty seconds pass, the Glockenspiel sound returns to augment this classic black metal style with a unique brightness previously unheard in the genre: this sonorous augmentation  is more innovatively subtle than overpoweringly detering - more under the table than over the counter.   Innovation continues through the verses - and is best served through subtlety, as Cullen Toner double picks lower wound guitar strings rather than those of the higher-the customary style of Black Metal; this reversal of custom adds to the heaviness of sound. Now I hear that which I've sought through a lifetime of listening - the heaviest bouts of distortion on a rhythm guitar I've ever heard. A moment or so prior, we were under the table - and now we, on our backs, kick the table and break it.

"Lady Of The Snows" - the ninth album track is a tribute to one "cloaked in a robe of the sun / And served as an ark to the most holy one / She is greatest of all the saints / But should this bring due veneration? Among the more interesting notions of this song is the articulation of the Lady Of The Snows.  First DAWNBREAKER progresses toward the five chord (dominant) by a momentary tonicization, not modulation. Listeners feel the gravity of this sonorous leap - as Christ becomes represented by the dominant (five chord). Listeners feel this distance above the root chord structure. To represent the Lady Of The Snows, the Christian Mary, DAWNBREAKER utilizes the leading tone of the dominant - one harmonic scale degree beneath the current diatonic plateau - yet simultaneously one tritone above the root of the key structure. The Lady Of The Snows cannot remain stretched by this tritone-to do so is forbidden and the epitome of tension-both a dangerous descent-and an intentional dissent - a choice that cannot be chosen. Invigorated by a rhythmic metric modulation into a twelve-eight triplet feel;  conveyed by an unmuted power chord-not a fast-but a digressive, nearly invasive, rhythmic shift; through a polarized tension in dire need of resolution, we feel the innate suffering of Her Majestic Bliss.

This leading tone is presented as an escape tone-nearly a momentary tonicization in itself; but not quite a tonicization as listeners remain fully cognizant of the half step ascent from the major seventh, and the abysmal descent toward the root:  still, as we feel the polarized pull--we feel the compassionate, humane hand upon our shoulder; the ultimate peace granted by the "Lady Of The Snows"- who "Kickstarts My Heart" with energetic, sympathetic softness. "The Outer Darkness" - the tenth and final album track is an instrumental that begins with eerie sounds as a backdrop behind seemingly thunderous explosions-representing the spiritual battle so prevalent during this time of suffering and death.