Tales of Liquid Dawn: Fall of the Xafyre Dynasty

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Yip releases Part I of the Xafyre Chronicles, Fall of the Xafyre Dynasty, under the moniker of Tales of a Liquid Dawn. An all-instrumental psychedelic space-rock album where a sci-fi story is musically being told over 70 minutes of sludgy doom metal with Yip playing all the instruments himself.

The story, written by Yip with the help of Ben Plater, is about an aged Emperor, his desire to preserve his legacy and to reconcile with his estranged son after executing his peasant lover, a son that now leads an army that opposes its father’s reign. It also talks about conspiracy plots, betrayal, murder, battles, defeat, end exile… a unique and interesting output.

Just for the fact of the enormous effort put into this creation, Yip deserves my admiration, the details not only in the music and the multiple soundscape layers and what they portray, but also the art cover that matches so well the musical content, its colors, its imminent psychedelia with that middle eastern touch to it, the consistent flow track after track… it just surpasses my initial expectations.

Do I love the album? No, I don’t, but that’s simply because I’m not very fond of this genre, and that’s about it. Would I recommend this album? For sure, I know plenty of people that will find its eclectic and repetitive darkness suitable to their taste, and the good production allows the listener to appreciate how good of a player Yip is. The drums and percussion sound real, bass lines are well crafted and hypnotic, and the keyboards and guitars very anxious sounding and quite tasty. The guitar solo on “Twin Serpents� alone is worth the monetary value of this album, fantastic, and it makes the song alongside the groovy “Qunja Monks� my two favorites. I also like the desperate psychedelia if the opener “Tome of History� and the odd melancholic melodic values of “The Rain Season�, and both �The Son Escapes� and “The Betrayal and Death of Emperor Var� are great epic connectors, sonically wise and smartly crafted, specially the last one which preludes the immense “The Battle for Xafyre Palace�, a track that is both important within the story and musical narrative, and a little too long, so long it distracts my attention and makes me wish for a prompt ending. With “The Nomad� Yip totally loses me, the never-ending guitar roaming confuses me and tells me that the musician doesn’t even know his destination, constantly moving without direction… at least to my ears… has he accomplished being a Nomad? There’s a Part II to these chronicles coming up sometime in 2023, a continuation I guess to the unfinished story, perhaps to tell us how the emperor’s son came back from exile to defeat the palace’s new occupants and gain back his father’s reign, and I’m sure it will be a good album as well. Cheers.

Track list:

1. Tome of History (10:24)
2. The Rain Season (7:41)
3. The Son Escapes (2:06)
4. Twin Serpents (10:08)
5. The Qunja Monks (9:00)
6. The Betrayal and Death of Emperor Var (4:51)
7. The Battle for Xafyre Palace (14:36)
8. The Nomad (11:55)

Added: February 4th 2023
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Artists @ Bandcamp
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Language: english

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