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I remember, about five years ago, when I was offered the 2-song EP/demo, Darker World, from Finnish progressive deathsters Damnation Plan to review. I was impressed by what I heard and it seemed this band had some hope for a bright future.

Well those better times are here now. Damnation Plan's 11-track debut album, The Wakening, was released on March 12th by Italy's Coroner Records and it blows the band's previous EP out of the water. The vibe and feeling of the songs on The Wakening are dark, ominous and heavy and everything on this record sounds like the guys have taken their time to make the most striking songs possible. Modern-sounding progressive Death Metal this truly is and it's executed very convincingly, keeping in mind this is the band's debut. The record features heavy and crispy guitar riffs that seem to roll out from every corner of the record. They use of two very different vocal styles (Tommy Tuovinen's [MyGrain] harsh growls and Asim Searah's [ex-Kiuas] clean vocals) that seem to synchronize well with one another. Asim's well-sung clean vocals emphasize some of the album's darkest and most ominous moments. Dan Swanö has taken care of both mixing and mastering The Wakening and I am sure the band couldn't be happier with what he achieved. Dan is quite a studio wizard, no doubt.

In short, Damnation Plan doesn't need to apologize for their existence; they just need to let their sharp and well thought out music do the talking for them. Pretty darn impressive debut from Damnation Plan, folks.