Though based in Chicago since the year 2000, Dawnbringer was originally founded five years earlier in Malvern, PA by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Black, a heavy metal purist par excellence, who has saved his interests in other musical styles and metallic offshoots for a number of side projects including Pharaoh, High Spirits, Superchrist, and, most notably, renowned American black metallers Nachtmystium. No such aesthetic distractions are to be found in Dawnbringer's oeuvre, however, which has remained relatively true to heavy metal's more "traditional" musical template ever since the group's 1996 Sacrament EP through to its third album, In Sickness and in Dreams, ten years later (with 1997's Unbleed and 2000's Catharsis Instinct doing their part in between). But it wasn't until Chris Black achieved wider renown for his various side projects and key contributions to the aforementioned Nachtmystium that Dawnbringer began receiving their due respect, as well, culminating in the critical crowning bestowed upon 2010's excellent Nucleus opus, which landed on many of that year's lists of best heavy metal albums. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia