In the case of GOLDEN DAWN I'll have to go a bit back in history, using some lines from Dreamlord's letter.

After a long time of silence it is about time to bring back the name of GOLDEN DAWN. It is grotesque that the third CD will be released before the second; this second effort "Sublimity" is unfinished for two years now and will remain so, I fear.

Pissed off by the adversities of the business, the mastermind fully concentrated on his home-studio, where he also recorded "A Solemn Day". Of course you realise this when listening to it and I also am no friend of drumcomputers, but that didn't disturb the listening-pleasure of "The Art Of Dreaming" at all, or had it been a real drummer... This is a mystery we can not solve...

Anyway, "A Solemn Day" works just like the ingenious debut: A strong foundation, then Black, now Epic Metal, as basis for creative, genre-crossing song-writing, combining countless styles into one. Of course there is enough power and madness, but still the red line is not lost. But GOLDEN DAWN have their best moments, when they leave the traditional genre-paths and the old, valued extravagance surfaces again, which makes you forget the heavy dramatisc, arrangements and instruments.

If you disregard the weaker production and the partly weaker vocalist/s, compared to the debut, then you hold an opus in your hands that shadows many others, but not "The Art Of Dreaming" and that is the problem.

GOLDEN DAWN is too great to be "only" good and will always be measured byits own greatness.

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Guest review by Thom Kinberger