RITES AT DAWN

Edit: I've come back in the year 2021 to bump this rating up to 5 stars after listening for a couple years. The songs on this album have continued to really resonate to an even stronger degree over the years and listening now I still pick up on so many brilliant subtilties and complexities in the arrangements and recording. I'm leaving my original review up despite many of my thoughts no longer holding true. I consider this Wobblers second best record after Silence.

Rites at Dawn is an album that I can't point to any real big flaw other than that its not as good as "From Silence to Somewhere." It is at the very least, it is however an improvement on the first two albums especially on the song writing front. Though I do really enjoy those albums, Rites at Dawn shows the band really nailing down ssong structures with the great production you can expect from any Wobbler album. We have out ambient openers and closers Lucid and Lucid Dreams which I don't think improve the album any but they're fine.

The real music starts with La Beatltaine. The opening strongly reminds me of The Runaway by Gentle Giant but the songs got a nice groove. Right away you can see the band is playing much tighter than they did on previous releases. They also have new vocalist Andreas joining for this release. His voice makes me think of a mix of Jon Anderson and Derek Shulman with a Norwegian accent, I really like it. Enough with the comparisons. The song goes through a handful of nice movements led by the guitar and keyboards, it places a greater emphasis on buildup and song development rather than just going from one sick riff to a bit of a trait of early wobbler. A very layered and rewarding opener 8/10

What follows is in my opinion the best song on the album, In Orbit. An acoustic guitar fades in as the band eases into a nice jam. At 2:20 the 'verse' kicks in and too put it shortly, its amazing. The bass is really prominent with a nice hard hitting tone while the keys during this section aid in making a real intense atmosphere. There's lots of beautiful sections throughout the songs 12 minute run time and they're all really led by the keys. In the final 2 minutes we are given a soaring climax where it revisits the 'verse' from the beginning. Also worth noting is the very fine vocal performance throughout the track. 9.5/10

This Past Presence is more of a foresty (is that a word?) symphonic track. Similar to what their contemporaries Jordsjo would be doing a couple years later. After a nice folky intro, the band explodes back in with what I consider the signature Wobbler sound with a similar groove to La Beatltaine. In the final minute and a half the band erupts into a mellotron doused climax which kind of reminds me of part of the climax from From Silence to Somewhere. An overall very solid track. 8/10

A Faeries Play opens with fierce jam with each member going ham on their respective instruments. Even through some of the quieter sections of the song, this intensity and darkness can be felt throughout. This song also shows the bands greater emphasis on good melodies. 8/10

We close with The River, the second best song on the album. This is the most hammond-heavy track as well, being honest, I probably prefer a heavy hammond tone to the mellotron speaking personally. This is probably the most 'epic' sounding track and has a great energy throughout. Once again the melodies, particularly the vocal melodies, are really fantastic and its truly a symphonic prog treat. A worthy closer. 8.5/10

Though nothing on here is quite as good as anything off From Silence to Somewhere (though In Orbit is very very close), Rites at Dawn is a great release and one I revisit frequently. I've seen others say they bleed too much influence on this album, but I hear Wobbler before I hear Yes or Gentle Giant.

4 Stars