It’s always a rare event when an album from Taiwan arrives in my mailbox. This island from the far eastern part of Asia might be in general a white spot on the map of worldwide Metal for most of the headbangers overhere. I suppose most people are familiar with CHTHONIC only who are without any doubt the leading force when it comes to superb extreme music from Taiwan. But if you dig a little bit deeper in this country’s underground scene you will discover a bunch of formidable acts in all genres our beloved music has to offer. One of those squads are DIESEAR from Taipei whose name is a compound of the Latin word DIES and SEAR and can be roughly translated as "Day Of Marking". The four piece was formed in 2007 by guitarist and bandleader Sui and comes up with their brand new second full length album "Ashes Of The Dawn". It is the follow up to "Inner Sear" which was already thrown onto the market in 2009 and a three track EP entitled "Sear" (released in 2008). That the band has some quality is a fact as the quartet supported AMORPHIS in Taiwan in October 2013. Furthermore they were invited to team up with CHILDREN OF BODOM on their Asian tour in May 2014 and are on the billing of the Tuska Metal Festival in Finland this coming June. So what can we expect from these four lads musically? DIESEAR delivers a technical skilled and accomplished brand of melodic Death Metal. Of course the Scandinavian influences, especially the Swedish ones, can’t be denied but the outfit adds enough own identity to their sound and is by far not just a blue print of some well known acts. Their tracks sound fresh, passionate and are very well executed. Everything is played with a lot of energy and sophistication and it makes a lot of fun to listen to their tunes. And DIESEAR have a healthy dose of speed which some big names failed to provide in the past. The guitar work is quite strong. It’s powerful, aggressive and gentle when it is neccessary. A bunch of massive, violent riffs combined with blistering, emotional leads and elegant melody lines. Amo, the man behind the drum kit, complements the axe department with his relentless and powerful drumming to create a solid wall of sound. The charismatic vocals of frontman Kurenai fit perfectly to the extremely strong musical perfomance of his companions. He is able to express the lyrical content about the positive and negative human nature in a perfect manner with his voice. The production of "Ashes Of The Dawn" is superb. It was done by Sui in the Meteora Music studios and it meets international standards with ease. The presentation of the album deserves also to be mentioned. My (first) edition comes as a firm digibook including band photos, lyrics (Chinese + English) and some extra artwork. And to top it all: a bonus DVD comes along with this edition as well which features a documentary about the making of the album plus some music videos. So if you enjoy melodic Death Metal and you always like to discover new bands with class or in case you are tired of the latest offerings by some of the established bands in that genre – why not try to check out this squad? You can do this by visiting www.facebook.com/diesearofficial. I just can recommend you to have a listen to songs like ‘Shadow Of Grey’, ‘Fearless’, ‘Silent Division’ or `Dying Dust’.