DAGOBA: By Night (INDUSTRIAL METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

And eight for Dagoba! In a career spanning nearly twenty years, the band has gradually established itself as one of the leaders of French metal. So much so that the quartet has signed with Napalm Records for the occasion! New label, but also new stylistic orientation. The ardor of their beginnings has calmed down a bit, in favor of a more accessible FM metalcore. This new album, "By Night", proposes notably new electro influences which can be felt through the keyboards layers, but also some phrasings close to synthwave, as on the two instrumental transitions 'Neons' and 'Breaks'.

In terms of pure composition, the recipe declined by the French collective is used throughout the eleven tracks of the album. Namely heavy, effective and immediate choruses ('Sunfall', 'On The Run'), a sense of melody sharpened in spite of the thickness of the atmospheres ('The Last Crossing'), and a solid groove ('The Hunt'). The qualities of the musicians are not to be demonstrated any more, showing an impeccable precision as usual.

It is rather a certain lack of originality, of inspiration and a feeling of "already heard" which come to tarnish the whole. Besides, the tracks are often in the same tone and repeating the same patterns and it is quite difficult to distinguish them as the ambiences are so similar. The very radiophonic refrains can even present a soft and almost unpleasant character ('On The Run').

However, the very current side of the music of the band, accentuated by a modern production, should please the fans of the genre. "By Night" is not necessarily the opus that we must retain in the discography of Dagoba, but the group had at least the merit to renew itself by bringing new sounds more electro when many formations stagnate. An effort that should be greeted! - Official website

DAGOBA

BY NIGHT

NAPALM RECORDS

INDUSTRIAL METAL