Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Septicflesh - Mystic Places of Dawn (1994)

With my recent revisit of Septicflesh's comeback album Communion, I eventually thought "What about their earlier era?" These were the days when Septic Flesh (with a space between the two words) were more focused on death and a bit of the doom of the Peaceville 3, with symphonic synths used more sparsely and only fully displayed in tracks where it's used as the sole instrument. The debut Mystic Places of Dawn shows Spiros Antoniou and co. nicely blending brutality with atmosphere and historical lyrics...

The debut is more melancholic and longer (at a full one-hour length) than most other death metal albums back then, and it flows well when experienced entirely. Simple yet devastating guitars soar alongside crystalline synths in haunting melody.

The thunderous title opener has that deathly speed, though you'll find slower variation in the doomy sections. Blazing soloing plagues "Pale Beauty of the Past" in effective echo. It really does sound beautiful, even though the heavier fans of death metal prefer brutality over beauty. Next track "Return to Carthage" is a return to the heavier side of death metal with barely any of the crawling doom.

"Crescent Moon" is an amazing 8-minute doomy epic with guitarwork ranging from blissful to intense. And there's more of the slow doom in "Chasing the Chimera". The most of the pretty synths you'll get in one of the death metal tracks is "The Underwater Garden".

The fast "Behind the Iron Mask" is an explosive riff monster. It's great that they have the heaviest track deep into the album. It's a well-placed brutal break from the slowness. The most variant track here is "(Morpheus) The Dreamlord" with its slow melodic sections that then lead to a climatic buildup into eruptive blasts. The sonic firepower of the soloing would certainly burn away those slow melodies. Also that track was recorded a year before everything else in the album and had an actual drummer instead of a drum machine to add a more authentic kick to the sound. "Mythos" is the 9-minute two-part finale of nothing but symphonic synths. This was around the time when both Septic Flesh and Amorphis stunned the death metal realm with their synth usage. It's not for pure heavy metalheads, but it's certainly fitting for an epic journey to Atlantis.

So I actually enjoy Mystic Places of Dawn slightly more than I did a few years ago, and slightly more than Communion. As amazing as their debut is though, the mixing is a bit unclear, which is understandable when the band was first starting out. Still it has the right kind of mood to stand out in the rise of the Greek extreme metal scene led by black metal bands Necromantia and Rotting Christ. The album has some impressive writing and it promised an essential future for Septic Flesh and the more atmospheric side of death metal. Best recommended for death metal lovers who don't mind some doom and synthesized orchestration....

Favorites: "Mystic Places of Dawn", "Pale Beauty of the Past", "Crescent Moon", "Behind the Iron Mask", "(Morpheus) The Dreamlord"