Founded in 2009 and based in Portugal, HOURSWILL spent the better part of their earlier career tackling line-up changes. Signed to Ethereal Sound Works in 2014, they released their debut in 2017, titled "Harm Full Embrace." The band now returns with their sophomore effort, titled "Dawn of the Same Flesh," which contains twelve new tracks.

"Ashera" opens the album, with cool and smooth acoustic guitars, and dual harmonic vocals with a female and male. It picks up a little towards the end but this was meant as a soft and gentle listening experience, high with emotions. "Innocence" opens with a heavier and darker sound. Some Progressive elements come into play a bit with some slight variations in the meter, but this seems like Classic Metal mostly to me. "A Beauty in Bloom" opens with another heavy and aggressive riff and a mid-tempo pace, where the drums roll a bit. A guitar solo ushers in some light to the darkness presented here, but the mid-tempo pace keeps it fairly boring.

"Now that I Feel" is a power-ballad of sorts, with emotional singing in the verses, leading to a full chorus with backing vocals. The vocalist reminds me of Bruce Dickinson a bit, with perhaps more vocal control. "Enlightenment" is another slow, grinding song with thick vocals and more heapings of darkness. The guitar solo is fantastic here. "The Sightless Poison" is another ballad of sorts but it lacks a central sound. The singer really has an amazing voice but it's not put to use. "Yours is Better than Mine" is another heavier song with dark accents and some powerful riffing. The backing vocals in the chorus are nice and rich. Another fantastic guitar solo peppers the landscape. "Oblivious Coma" features a sequence of soft acoustic guitar notes, with perhaps a slight Latin flair.

"I Vow to Hate" might be the heaviest song on the album. Drums roll with thunderclaps behind them and the vocalist presents a snarl in his voice. The guitarist lays down another fantastic solo. "Corrupted Soul" opens with a thick and meaty bass line. The main riff is pretty trite however and the connection with the vocals doesn't really kick in until the chorus. "We are the Same Flesh" is another slower song that really struggles to get off the ground. Even the chorus falls flat here. "Hanwi" closes the album. It leads in with soft clean guitars and clean female vocals. Male vocals join in and this swan song is meant to tug at your heart strings. The tender saxophone is a nice surprise as well.

Overall, the album fell flat for me. It's weird...they have all the necessary ingredients to be a successful band...a great singer, with a lot of bravado, and a great guitar player. The songwriting is where they fell short. I get that that were trying to mire in the darkness, but too many mid-tempo songs, too many trite riffs, and an overall lack of creativity for the most part doomed them from the start. There were some strong moments on the album, but overall as I said, it fell short.