Meridian Dawn - The Fever Syndrome (2020)

Unleashing 35 minutes of superbly crafted Melodic Death Metal, today we have international project Meridian Dawn and their debut full-length release “The Fever Syndrome”. Being huge fans of the genre, we are quite critical of any release we get, however, this duo manages to craft nine tracks that are both engaging and exciting to listen, filled with melody and guitar wizardry. For those of you looking for your Melo Death fix of 2020, this is one release you can’t miss out on.

Opening with “Iconic”, the band gets straight to business with killer melodic guitars and a blistering tempo to quickly escalate things. With a certain Nightrage vibe, it took us a minute to realize that vocalist Antony Hämäläinen used to be the vocalist of this band back when they released “Insidious” and our favorite “Wearing a Martyr's Crown”. Tracks like “Fever Syndrome” and “With a Heavy Burden…” perfectly negotiate the balance between soaring melodies and aggressive tempo changes, delivering valuable minutes of headbanging bliss.

With dramatic guitar leads on “God to All”, the band’s guitarist/bassist Nick Ziros showcases great creativity and craftiness as the band delivers intricate songs that are not a copy of each other, allowing them to craft a signature sound as we can hear in “Involuntary Seclusion” and “Luminescent”. Our favorite song has to be the epic “It’s All A Dream” and its headbanging-inducing mid-tempo passages filled with technical intricacies (i.e. bass guitar line).

Closing with the intense “Dressed in Ice”, Meridian Dawn has unleashed one of the most polished debut releases in the genre in the last several years. With a cohesive and yet particular sound, “The Fever Syndrome” features some of the catchiest and most engaging songs we have heard in 2020. Any fan of Dark Tranquility, Insomnium, etc. should know about this band.

Label: Seeing Red Records

Release: July 10th, 2020

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Country: International