Review by JD on October 23, 2008.

We have Prog metal meeting old school metal here... pretty much sums up this amazing band from Chicago IL. What my opening line does not say in it, is how damned great this band really is.. it has to be heard.

Sacred Dawn had mixed the two basic styles, and added in some hard rock and even some almost neoclassical influences to create some of the most attention grabbing music I have ever crossed paths with. What Nightmare Records has released is in my view, one of the best albums that has been released this year. Hauntingly beautiful in some spots, heavy as a twenty ton bolder on your head in other places... they are a perfect blending of what makes metal music so damn great.


Vocally, Lothar Keller delivers such a array of emotions and power it is beyond amazing... one of the first thing you notice on the album. John Vitale on guitar creates a perfect attack to go along with Keller's music while the duo of beat ( Drums: Brad "Sabbath" Sabathne and Bass: Joey Vega) create the spine of this metal monster, and bring the whole damn thing together.

Pure and simply, this amazing foursome gives people like Dream Theatre, Queensryche and Fates Warning a big run for their Progressive lives. Sacred Dawn perfectly creates something that is pure, simple and yet has intelligence as well. This is quite possibly the best album release of '08, and I am not normally into Prog Metal.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 10
Originality: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.2 out of 10

Review by Allan on February 24, 2003.

It has two songs, it's a little over twenty-eight minutes, and it's an EP. Still, it's one of the best albums in its niche. Don't dismiss the "Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada!" EP, by Canada's instrumental music architects Godspeed You! Black Emperor, for the aforementioned reasons. If you do, you could be missing out on one of music's finer half hours, and one of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's best releases.

After the mildly lacking "F# A# Infinity," "Slow Riot" comes as somewhat of a surprise. Godspeed has improved their finely tuned orchestral music in nearly every aspect.

"Slow Riot" is the most straightforward of all the releases Godspeed has released, thus far. It just keeps on moving, and it doesn't have too many sections that repeat on (respectively). It's almost as if Godspeed wrote a sixty minute album and decided to cut it down to thirty.

"Slow Riot" is epic; simple as that. It opens with beautiful violin, leaving you dazed and confused but carrying you along with it until it explodes into this emotionally gut wrenching climax. It continues on into 'BBF3,' encapsulating you with its amazing orchestration of instruments, as well as with the perfection it was composed with. The monologue used in this song, taken from an interview with Blaise Bailey Finnegan the 3rd, is absolutely mesmerizing with the piano and violin over it. It has its slight climaxes and swells of sound throughout, until it reaches the twelve-minute mark, where it completely and utterly soars. The layering is amazing, as is the detail that goes into each and every section of this album.

Bottom Line: "Slow Riot" is thirty minutes of amazing material that has that special power to move and inspire the listener. Absolutely recommended.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 10
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 9
Originality: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.4 out of 10