Hailing from Australia, PERPETUAL DAWN is a Melodic Folk/Black Metal band, formed in 2009. This is the project's debut full-length release, and contains ten songs. "Mushroom Gully" is the first. It begins with somewhat smooth tones that have an edge of darkness to them. The vocals are whispered, and the guitars, bass, and drums roll in confidently. Melody is also sprinkled in, but somewhat dissonantly. "...By the Broken Tree" continues with a similar pace and sound. The song takes several short pauses and then continues, and this creates an outer-worldly feeling for me.

"Autumn's Reminder" opens with somewhat tense, clean tones and some meaty bass notes. The sparkling lead guitar parts add another dimension to this song, which can't seem to make up its mind between tones of despair and hope. "Autumn's reminder" is not only a reminder of the beautiful fall to come, but also the inevitable winter which is right around the corner. "Portrait of an Omen" is fueled with a little more energy. The heavy reverb in the lead guitars helps to create this U2 feeling from the music, which is odd, I know, but it just works. "Blood of the Forest" has a more mysterious and tense sound, as the title would suggest. The melodic clean tones that follow are almost jovial, and in this sense, the album is a bit of an enigma so far.

"Following the Dying Daylight" opens with more phaser in the guitars, but the familiar romp of the drums is once again repeated. That lead passage is effects-laden and seems to come from outer space. "The Blue Lake" features a similar sound, and so far, that is my only critique on the album...that some of the songs are too close to one another in sound. The formula they use works well, but just vary things up a bit. "...By the Wall of Stone" is a short, two-and-a-half minutes in length. Again, the sound switches between tones of hope and despair, about as often as notes appear. It is also another song that is heavy with effects. "Frozen" has a rich and full sound, and one where the bass plays along with the leads in unison at times. "Sense of Fate" closes the album. Bossy, and majestic tone emanate from the instruments, and a sense of haste comes from the music. It eventually dies down to some really nice melodic tones. It ends with heavy effects.

Overall, this was a unique album to listen to. Lying somewhere between Black Metal, Melodic, and Folk Metal, many of the sounds were ones that I haven't heard before. I mean, how often can you mention Black Metal in the same sentence as U2? But, many of the songs had a similar pace and sound to them. If the guys could vary things up a bit, they really have something special here. This is just their debut, so all they can do is improve from here, and I am looking forward to their next outing.