SACRED DAWN is a Chicago oriented Progressive / Heavy Metal group that sounds as if they need to be placed in Europe. After listening to their debut record, "Gears Of The Machine: A New beginning", I was very excited to hear this one because this band has a unique twist of a new, very well produced and modern sound. However, their music is totally old school Metal with a complex twist. Sort of a mix of NWOBHM and European Progressive Metal, which has been known to be more Symphonic and Power oriented.

The album starts with "The Untold Story" that begins with an epic intro, with a very modern sound and even a kind of drum loop in the background. Afterwards, it goes into a double bass section which is very SYMPHONY X style, but then it breaks into something that made the feeling as if something was missing there. I think that the song was missing a rush, it is very well built and structured but where was the excitement? The same was for the second song, "What You Did To Me". The third song, "Demon Lover", rushed through in a JUDAS PRIEST mood when singer, Keller, tried to sing in an HALFORD kind of a high pitch. Well, it didn't sound so good. The next "A Madness Within" in first impression was good but right about the middle it had a break with a riff that reminded me a lot of "Unholy Confessions" by AVENGED SEVENFOLD, on through the song, it turned into a mix of old and modern Metal that was too weird for me.

You have to give something to this crew. "Summer of Treason", from my end, was the best song on the record. It's progressive and interesting as it should be and I'm quite sure it was played with a baritone guitar that adds that extra heaviness to it. "Delirium" is another very good song, very power oriented with a strong chorus and interesting guitar parts and keys arrangements. The little dosage of growl vocals added a little twist to the song and made it even heavier. "The Decision" is very DREAM THEATER type of track, it was well composed and also gave the chance to finally listen to some keys here !. "Dawn Of The Day", the closing tune, a very melancholic song that may remind you of OPETH. I think it was a wonderful choice to finish up the album.

In conclusion, this one is a very mediocre album, in my opinion it has no excitement. The songs were very well produced but, I miss the feel of the whole record. I also think that Keller double duty as singer and lead guitarist took its effect on the band's overall sound because it's a very complex music to play and sing and doing both together is twice as hard. Production wise, the album is very well produced and sounds great, but we all know that a good sounding record doesn't mean a good record.