After forming in 1990, Ludwigsburg, Germany's Dawn of Winter toiled in obscurity for most of the ensuing decade, issuing demo after demo and a 1993 EP, rather aptly named Celebrate the Agony, where vocalist Gerrit Philipp Mutz, guitarist Jörg Michael Knittel, bassist Joachim Schmalzried, and drummer Oliver C. Schramm displayed their allegiance with melodically inclined doom bands like Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, and Solstice. But it wasn't until 1998 that the group (now featuring drummer Dennis Schediwy) released its first full-length, In the Valley of Tears, through Knittel's own Iron Glory Records, only to go on indefinite hiatus when Mutz and Knittel became involved with power metal bands Tragedy Divine and Sacred Steel. And although they continued to dabble in doom with Dawn of Winter via 2001's Slow Is the Suffering EP and 2003's Doomcult Performance demos compilation, it wasn't until half a decade later that they found time to record a second official studio album under the heading of The Peaceful Dead. This was released by Massacre Records in Europe and Shadow Kingdom in the New World. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia