Band:	Iraven
Album:	At Dawn Of The Battle
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	2004

01. At Dawn Of The Battle
02. Kalt
03. Blazon Of The Rage
04. Lost Warriors
05. I Can Live In You
06. Fiery Cross
07. In The Light Of The Last Palace
08. Interlude
09. Pour Conquérir Le Temps
10. The Dawn Of The Reign
11. The Tower Of Lords

Last band to play, 2am. Many guys got off the crowd, but luckily not me. After some good but yet no special brutal death metal / hardcore bands I was about to see Iraven's performance in a very small venue of my hometown. Black metal, the ad said? again, not something I usually enjoy? However when I went back home after the show, I was highly satisfied! You'll know why after having read this review of their album, At Dawn Of The Battle.

Iraven hails from Toulouse, France. Created in 1996, they evolved from thrash metal to black metal, and now to something like heavy black metal, with an exquisite line-up filled with lots of talent and varied influences.
This original blend of metal shows even in the artwork of this first album: dark, epic, dynamic, it could make us think of a dark power metal band (!) Then the inside of the booklet is really neat, nothing violent, brutal or insane, just a pleasant and peaceful presentation of the lyrics (gothic? No not really). Finally the CD, with a flashy yellow/orange color, could remind of something like melodic death or even some techno stuff?

Time to push play: a dark medieval keyboard intro, with some background growls, before the second track, "Kalt", comes striking like thunder. It illustrates perfectly what is this heavy black metal, with catchy riffs and solos, a drummer who doesn't stick to one blasting pattern, but who knows how to give memento to the song.
Some songs like "Lost Warriors" are even closer to heavy than to black metal with some guitar harmonies in the vein of Iron Maiden, and tracks 06 and 08 are more like ballads (with Elenya and Ancien Might singing together (clean) on the soft parts of "Fiery Cross"). In my opinion, that's a good way for keeping the listener's attention set to max.
After one song in French, "Pour Conquérir Le Temps", the album closes with two songs nearly keyboard-free, very heavy, and sometimes thrashy.

Now you see why I was so satisfied: this album is not that extreme as black metal usually is. This heavy influence really got me into their dark atmosphere, avoiding the standard crushing noise generally overused in the black metal scene.
What a fresh sensation! I want more!
Unfortunately, the album suffers from a weird production: not bad but too neat, to the point that when you first listen to the drums you even think "oh f*** a drumming machine!" But after a few minutes you get used to it and you can really appreciate every instrument, even the bass, so that's not so bad in fact.
I don't recommend this album to traditional black metal listeners, only if you enjoy a lot symphonic black metal or if you want to hear something "less extreme". But on the other hand, heavy metal fans bored of the usual routine must listen to At Dawn Of The Battle.
A very good album to broaden one's musical tastes.

PS: if you can, see them live! Your ears won't suffer from the strange production!