Dawn of Anguish

Dawn of Anguish is a heavy doom metal band formed in 2008. The band employs down-tuned guitars to create the heavy atmosphere found in contemporary doom metal music while at the same time injecting sombre elements from diverse musical lineages. Amongst others, the musical direction of the band follows the likes of Doomshine, Place of Skulls Trouble and Wall of Sleep.

The inception of the band dates back to early 2008 when Efrem and Simeon first started discussing the possibility of a side project. The two were brought together through common acquaintances in the local metal community and while other musical commitments severely damaged the initiation of their project, their common goal held both of them interested in the idea of forming a new band.

Meanwhile, Alex and Efrem had been habitually rehearsing together with a number of different line-ups and as soon as they teamed up with Simeon in early 2008, the three were able to start working on the material that was to become the band’s first songs. Although having initially briefly experimented with a number of musical styles, the musical direction of the three-piece line-up quickly gravitated towards the ‘Doom Metal’ genre.

The musical style of the band continued to strongly consolidate itself in short time by mid-2008 when the final elements of the band were successfully brought together. During this time, Andrew and Gregory were brought in to fulfil additional guitar and bass duties respectively. Having all the necessary tools in place for the pursuit of their musical vision, the five formed Dawn of Anguish.

The band successfully entered its first year of being with a strong presence in the local live scene having played to relatively sizeable audiences and having participated in a number of important  events within the local metal scene. The band has since been periodically involved in events such as ‘Malta Doom Metal’ festival, as well as the ‘Xtreme Metal Assault’ festival and ‘Doom Metal Assault’ events.

Overall the band has played in three editions of the Malta Doom Metal festival (2009, 2010, 2013) as well as two editions of the Xtreme Metal Assault festival (2010, 2012) which together represent the largest events related to the ‘underground’ heavy metal genre of music in Malta. During such events as well as other shows in Malta and Gozo, the band has played alongside notable bands in the genre from a number of countries such as Reflection (Greece), Contradiction (Germany), Doomshine (Germany), Dark Quarterer (Italy), and The Prophecy (UK) to name a few.

In September 2012 the band entered a collaboration with French company ‘Two-Notes audio-engineering’ whose hardware and software products represent a tool that us very well aligned to the band’s live needs and especially more so for the various stages of the creative and recording process.

Efrem uses the ‘Torpedo Live’ which is permanently lodged in his lice rack while also using it during the recording process, whereas Andrew uses the ‘Torpedo Reload’ for recording. Both guitarists also use the ‘Wall of Sound III’ plug-in from Two-Notes.

A short video showcasing some of the band’s songs and recordings using the ‘Torpedo Live’ can be found here

In January 2013, Simeon also entered a collaboration with the then Exodus Cymbals company which he used on the recording of the band’s first release, Prologue in Black