Dreamshade – A Pale Blue Dot
Artery Recordings Release date: March 5th 2021
The Swiss band Dreamshade have been in business since 2006 and stand for not being a typical Metal band. They mix different styles and influences from Rock to Electronic to hardcore. This 4th album of the band was produced by Dreamshade & Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Amaranthe, etc..).
And well, how to describe it? Extreme Metal meets Goth meets symphonic Hardrock/Poprock – when listening to it, Children Of Bodom, The Rasmus, Turmion Kätilöt come to mind as references. Which should actually say everything… a treat for the musically adventurous. Everything is very melodic and catchy despite being quite aggressive and powerful. For example, after an ultra-brutal start, Lightbringers (the single-release) turns out to be multi-dimensional with melodic clean vocals and atmospheric parts
Despite all the melody and clean vocals with pop appeal, the Extreme Metal sounds predominate the 14 songs, sometimes with a touch of Industrial. Listen for example to Question Everything, Step Back, Impulse, Somewhere Else, Nothing But The Truth (feat. John Henry from Darkest Hour) or the final Save This.
Absurdly, it’s a song with a rap part that I find the most outstanding and remarkable – guest singer Rose Villain adds the extra sprinkles on this delicious Stone Cold Digital – for me THE hit song of the album! (Rap returns, by the way, in a more dominant role on A Place We Called Home).
Conclusion: The genre and style is not quite my cup of tea, but hats off to the high quality work, and Extreme metal fans should definitely give it a try!
Dreamshade are:
Fernando ‘Fella’ Di Cicco – Guitars, Vocals
Gian-Andrea ‘Gian’ Costa – Bass, keyboards, programming
Kevin Calì – Vocals
Francesco ‘Fry’ Ferrini – Drums
Luca Magri – Guitars, programming
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8.5/10