Angry Metal Guy
One of the best things about living in Europe is the ease of access to hundreds of amazingly varied locations within a few hours of relatively cheap travel, traversing borders, languages, and cuisines. One of my most favorite destinations is Tromsø in Northern Norway; a grand coastal city with modern amenities ensconced in the beautifully bleak Scandinavian wilderness. It makes for a great hub to discover scarcely-touched lakes, waterfalls and mountains. A little band called Dreamslain hails from Tromsø, and their second full-length album is called Forge of Rebellion. I’ve started with this because it’s the most positive things you’ll read in this review. It’s in every metalhead’s interest to support bands toiling in the underground to self-publish their work, which is what makes this piece so difficult to write.
Dreamslain heavily rely on keys of various types, from piano to organ to harpsichord to synths, shifting between these as their songs develop. These contribute to an almost carnivalesque swing on tracks like “Secrets of the Forge” and “Ghost Story,” conveying how the band aimed for something grand here. The layers of keys, changeable guitars, switches between heavy and light, varied vocal approach, and chunky song lengths belie a fantastical tale woven with progressive metal. Forge could be distantly compared to Madder Mortem (for the varied, zany approach to prog) or Arjen Lucassen (for the over-the-top storytelling). However, you should not mistake the quality of these acts as an indicator of the quality here. When I hear a good album, my brain immediately begins identifying its strengths. Forge has the opposite effect, where I immediately begin identifying its deficiencies. There’s unfortunately a lot to say.
The greatest weakness is probably the bizarre, toothless production. The keyboard tones are comically terrible, and the bass is so buried as to be almost inaudible. It has the lo-fi feel of a demo recorded in one take, except that the Dreamslain one sheet suggests this is intended to be a full-length release in their discography. I can only assume that it sounds like how it’s intended to sound. I generally prefer production that isn’t overly polished, but Forge is so unpolished that it sounds amateurish. Likewise, the clean singing takes the form of a misguided warble that lacks depth, grit, and melody. Again, I’m forced to assume that this is how it was intended to sound but I’m bewildered as to how this can be the case. These warbles are blended with sneering shouts and shrieks that lack the cutting edge you would expect from harsh metal vocals. Only the harsh vocal passage over the piano scales on “Ghost Story” is remotely interesting. In their best passages, the vocals are passable, but at their worst, they’re distractingly shoddy.
By contrast, other instrumentation is reasonably accomplished. Dreamslain’s drums are genuinely impressive, and by far the best element of Forge. There are some groovy fills and transitions bridging passages where the drums are the one sound in the medley that feels deliberate and in control. It’s just a shame that they’re neutered by non-existent bass in the mix and an aggravating kick drum tone. Likewise, where the guitars are given some breathing room away from the keyboards, they’re solid enough. The opening riffs on “Braving the Storm” and “Humankinds Fall” aren’t bad, and there are a couple of shredding passages that cause my ears to pick up. But even in these moments, these guitar melodies are merely average compared with the perplexing remainder. Guitars should dictate the tone and feel of metal music, developing songs from one place to another, but all tracks here meander without purpose for six to ten minutes a piece. They begin feeling too long after just 60 seconds.
From the directionless song structures to the tepid melodies, to the phony keyboard tones, to the crappy production, almost everything here follows an aesthetic choice that I would not have made. It isn’t utterly irredeemable – these cats know their way around their instruments and demonstrate chops through the faster passages – but simply being able to play your instrument should be a minimum requirement, not the highlight. I’ve tried to write reasonably in response to Dreamslain with this review. Punching down on a small band participating in their passion project is rarely the right course of action. But Forge is bafflingly bad. They should return to the drawing board.
Rating: 0.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 224 kbps mp3
Label: Self-released
Websites: dreamslain.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/dreamslain
Releases Worldwide: June 14th, 2024
The post Dreamslain – Forge of Rebellion Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.
Tue Jun 11 11:10:08 GMT 2024