From Vienna, we have a traditional Heavy Metal band wrapped in mystical lyrics, and some touches of light Rock into the mix. Their name is DUSK and they are releasing what seems to be their 3rd album from my research. There are a lot of bands named DUSK and iIt was a little difficult for me to find the band members names and more detailed information about this band. Youtube's videos are also lacking. My first advice to them would be to step up their presence online (that’s how you do it nowadays), and get some gigs recorded. Just an idea, but you need to get out there more. We start with “Wendigo” , which according to my uncle Google, is a mythological cannibalistic monster in the spiritual tradition of North American Algonquian tribes. Cool theme and a cool song. However, it already notices the weak production and recording unfortunately. For a band in their 3rd album, this should be observed.

 We follow with  “Wheels of Twilight” full of energy and a nice singing melody to follow. The singer Denika Denkmair gives me Bonnie Tyler vibes. She has a good range and can keep a higher register throughout the tune. This song also provides some smart riffs and tempo changes providing different moods and this is always welcome. “The Dagger” is next and is also another well composed tune. A little more to the hard pop side of things and the performance reminds me of NO DOUBT in their first record. A good song to be the workhorse of the band. “Empress of the Emptiness” is next and we get a little more punk vibe on this one. Another cool melody and musicianship in general in a raw package. This is a 4 piece band with 1 guitar player Sebastian Raubitzek. The guitar parts are solid as well as the arrangements and the solos, however I believe the guitar lacks a little volume and extra punch in the mix. 

WIth a familiar drum  groove provided by drummer Stefan Höfler, and some light guitar dexterity, we start “Shapeshifter / Driving My Love Away”. DUSK reminds me of a lot of bands from HEART to DEAD SARAH and their song compositions and structures are quite good, if only the sound production was a little better. I understand how hard it is to get an album out decently produced and I applaud every effort from every band that puts an album out. However, with today's available technology you can reach great results and to my ears, this album could sound better, fuller. Especially the guitar. We follow with “Inquisitors of the Mountain Cult” and the good riffs and good bass and good drums are all there on another good song, but the recording sounds once again like garage made and this is perfectly fine. However, I dare to say that if you want to get your head above the rest you have to invest in every aspect of your work and to my ears, their songs could use a better production.

Ok, let’s stop ranting about that and get to the last song “The Wan Four”. I have also to mention the nice bass lines from Christian Pichler on this album and you can feel this at the beginning of this tune. Another basic, but well composed tune with a lot of moods and passages.  I believe the band leans more to a lighter pop rock that can remit to great bands of the genre mentioned in this text but also may sail the dangerous waters of AVRIL LAVIGNE’s sounding a little too pop for my taste. Nevertheless, all songs are well composed and performed and do not disappoint. A better sounding production should be their main concern if they want to achieve more. A keyboard player could also help.