Anthea take their symphonic progressive death metal to a new level on Beyond the Dawn, their third full-length and long awaited follow up to Tales Untold.
California-based Anthea is not the French thrash/death band of the same name and traces their origin back to 2015 when vocalist and keyboardist Diego Valadez founded the band. In 2017 the band released a s/t ep and then in 2020, the band released their first full length, Illusion, following that up in 2022 with the critically acclaimed Tales Untold. Now 4 years later, the band has released Beyond the Dawn, recorded at Dream Vale Studios and produced, mixed, and mastered by Diego Valadez.
“Beyond the Dawn” starts out much like one would expect given the “symphonic” and “progressive” labels. There’s orchestration complete with string sections and then there’s the raspy, growled vocals backed by a choir and some clean singing. The production, mixing, and mastering do stand out as being very well done, allowing the full sound and feel of the music and various textures to come through. Guitar work by Marcos Mejia and drums from Peter Vasquez stand out in the myriad of instruments.
“Phantom of the Masquerade” is the first video from the album for the band and is one of the stronger songs on the album. Very melodic, some near operatic vocals, more solid guitar and drum work and a bouncy chorus with clean vocals over top of harsh ones. Keyboard symphonic elements continue to play a significant part in their overall sound but given the genre, that should be expected.
By the time I got to “The Lost Soul” I could almost hear Geoff Tate (Queensryche) from Operation: Mindcrime as the album had the feel of a concept album with dramatic pauses, breakdowns and the symphonic elements. In some ways, this felt a bit predictable and I miss the urgency from songs like “Tales Untold” on their previous album. Musically, the performances are solid and the heavier elements really carry the songs even with the keyboards playing a near dominant role.
Unfortunately, at this point, my attention began to wane as the songs seem to blend together and end up all sounding very similar and having a similar structure making it difficult to tell them apart. Somewhat surprisingly, the band chose to cover “Burnin’ in the Third Degree” from The Terminator soundtrack (1984) to close out the album and it is a bit different from the rest of the tracks in being more stripped down from the symphonic standpoint and does mostly lack the harsh vocals, that seem somewhat out of place in other parts of the album.
Anthea have gone all-in on the symphonic elements on Beyond the Dawn, and whether or not that is a good thing will depend on the listener. Make no mistake, the production and musicianship is outstanding so those who wanted a greater emphasis on symphonic elements on Tales Untold will be very pleased. Those of us who wanted those elements to stay at the same level or even decrease, will end up liking Tales Untold a bit more than Beyond the Dawn.
Rating: 7/10
Tracklisting:
- Beyond the Dawn
- Phantom in the Masquerade
- The Lost Soul
- Awakening (Song for Spring)
- Bygone Age (Chicxulub)
- From Shadows to Light
- Crystal Moon
- Wanderer’s Quell
- Whispers of the Heart
- Duality of Gaia
- Burnin’ in the Third Degree
Release Date: 17 April 2026
Record Label: Rockshots Records
Band Members
Diego Valadez – lead vocals, keyboards, orchestration
Juan Pina – rhythm guitars, harsh vocals
Marcos Mejia – lead guitars
Gabby Hawk – bass
Peter Vasquez – drums
Video for ‘Phantom of the Masquerade’
Lyric video for: Wanderer’s Quell
Weblinks:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/antheametal/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antheametal/
Website: https://www.antheametal.com/