Dark Forest's Dawn of Infinity combines elements of 80s Traditional Metal with more modern Power Metal to create a heavy yet melodic album. Iron Maiden is the clear influence on the guitars and bass. Twin riffing and solo trade-offs are supported by galloping bass lines right from the beginning of the opening track, "Hourglass." The vocals, especially on the choruses, are melodic and soaring but in a more Black Majesty mold. The music is generally uplifting and, despite a lack of keyboards, the whole album has a positive vibe.
"Hourglass" sets the tone right away with its catchy, if overly repetitive, chorus while "Through a Glass Darkly," one of the gloomier tracks, possesses a lot of dramatic tension. Then there's "Under the Greenwood Tree," a Wuthering Heights-medieval fantasy effort, which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but is somewhat out of place amongst Dawn of Infinity's Trad/Power approach.
Overall the album is solid, polished and catchy and only lacks a few killer tracks to push it over the top. Still, lots of stuff out there doesn't stack up to Dawn of Infinity making it worthy of a listen or three.
