With a lot folk metal bands, they are either tiresome or a complete joy. Melodic death metal with Celtic folk influences is exactly what you get with Craving’s second full length album, At Dawn. Being fairly new to the folk metal realm, despite a demo release when they first started out back in 2006, Craving’s album from 2013 captures a bold folk metal sound, but feels a bit repeated for the genre.

The album begins on a tougher note with the track Mek, with more a more vigorous death metal sound straying very far from anything folk. This hardened start falls into the folk category about half way through the track with opens up acoustic strumming that emerged very unexpectedly, but takes the song to the folk mood it promises.

Sons of the Rebellion begins with a definite Celtic folk atmosphere with acoustic guitars which seems to show a strong resemblance to past folk influenced albums such as the track Token of Time from Ensiferum’s debut. Despite the strong resemblance, a haunting choir and some serious rocking riffs make for a great folk track.

The harsh vocals clash back and forth with clean folk sounding choruses in some tracks such In Die Nacht Hinein. This very melodically driven song also melds distortion with acoustic tracks very well, but sometimes the clean vocals tend to be a bit tiresome and unpolished at times, but can be strikingly attractive in other songs this album has to offer.

The album has some definite highs and lows, but my favorite track, Garden of Bones has a fighting attitude and a great mix of solid clean vocals, heavy riffing, and stellar melodic moments. The song slows down to become completely acoustic toward the songs end, and is a moment filled in mysticism and beauty making for one of the best tracks this album has to offer.

At Dawn by Craving maybe repeating the some old folk metal heard in the past, but their album is a solid one despite not really bringing anything new to the genre. Its lengthy nature maybe had been a difficult thought to get through at times with less exciting tracks; however, the album has more high points than low and was overall an unexpectedly pleasing experience.