Molodost's second demo بحر الأحلام translates to 'The Sea of Dreams', and I think that's a pretty good handle for its calm and collected content, which lacks some of the obsessive madness of the Lebanese musician's prior Shades at Salvation Borders. While there are still a handful of black metal aesthetics present, the compositions here are largely rooted in simple, programmed drums and keyboard passages; maintaining a low budget feel, a very underdeveloped level of polish (which some will love and others loathe), and a sort of 'dungeon synth' vibe, only Raed's note selection and synthesized instrumentation is far brighter and friendlier than the formative works of, say, Mortiis or Burzum to fall under this category. Yes, this could definitely fall under the 'guy with a keyboard' or 'bedroom black metal' category, but it's not as if its creator has illusions about to the contrary, or to his own capabilities in terms of production and musicianship.

Much like its predecessor, The Sea of Dreams does feature a cover song, but in place of Burzum, Raed has gone for a far more obscure instrumental by the French band Mortifera; "Epilogue D'une Existence de Cryssthal" from their Vastaiia Tenebrd Mortifera LP (2004). Again, he's not offering all that much of a sonic translation of the original. This is a tinnier, airier, lo-fi recapturing of the original's ambiance, and I have to say, even if I could give Modolost a few points for even paying tribute to such an obscurity, that it might be more interesting in the future if he took on some material that he could really transform into this base set of melodic components. As it stands, the atmosphere and emotional resonance of this incarnation does not feel quite so richly saddening as the original, but neither can I really rip into it, because unlike the new, titular original, "The Sea of Dreams" itself, this one is at least pretty consistent throughout. It's neither as compelling nor bizarre as the title track, but then again, any possible praise for "The Sea..." comes at the expense of its own flaws, which are numerous and somewhat of an obstacle to my overall enjoyment of the demo...

Book-ended by samples of a shoreline, "The Sea of Dreams" feels like a number of disparate ideas thrown into one track, which mirrors the disjointed aesthetics of the earlier demo, but with a more consonant and melodic undercurrent. You've got atonal sounding guitars clanging along as a lead, and some jangling, folk influenced tremolo jangles, with one or two straight surges of pristine, blazing melody that in fact were my favorite moments throughout the demo. Raed applies some garbled vocals (the Arabic lyrics of which I couldn't understand), but the contrast they create against the thinner tone of the music is unfortunately more of a corny embellishment than an effective one. The drums and lower atmospheric tones, as artificial as some will no feel towards them, didn't really bother me much. When a percussionist isn't available, you do what you have to; but neither are they mixed very well, and it only creates a similar amateurish vibe to the last demo. All told, I can't fault Molodost for its ideas, because in hearing this, despite all my complaints, I think this is a musician with some interesting ideas, who simply needs a better studio setup to really bring them all together. Stylistically, this isn't the most petty form of escapism, and the Romantic ideals and inspirations are often well matched to the desperation and agony of DIY black metal, but musically this felt too stripped and scattershot to capitalize on its available strengths.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

The is an unexplainable attractiveness to music that buries itself in a low-fidelity production and an assortment of synthetic guitar effects to the point that it seems to be paper thin, yet all-encompassing in the remaining 2 dimensions of its nature. It's difficult to put into a clear perspective, but the sort of blurry, impressionistic landscapes that come into being when hearing one of the various ambient keyboard works out of Burzum or Ildjarn has this effect and will tend to rope in a willing listener to the point of forgetting the world around him. On Molodost's 2nd studio offering, which translates into "Sea Of Dreams", stands a somewhat uneven yet largely inviting rehash of the same principle, but painted over with an intentionally disjointed presentation.

A resulting duality between distant yet coherent sounding melodic ideas and closer yet jarringly obtuse ones defines the primary song, which clocks in at a fairly long 7 minutes plus and makes little secret of its desire to avoid overt production clarity. Much of the song tends to be dominated by a singular, almost toy-like electric guitar that is closely followed by an even more toy-like drum line. All sense of symmetry seems to come and go with the few passing blast beats, which obscure the guitars to a great degree in the background, though they are actually less present than a recurring lead guitar line that intentionally sounds out of tune. at least by the Western well-tempered standard. Vocals mostly come in the form of a faint, low-toned whisper and have only a slight, nominal impact on what is largely an instrumental work.

By contrast, the closing Mortifera cover takes a strictly keyboard oriented route, and definitely lends itself heavily to the sort of dreamy, lost in a mist character that was present on Burzum's "Hliðskjálf", though the song itself is less informed by the latent Eastern influences of said album. It conjures up appropriate images of deep contemplation while alone on a beach either at sunrise or in the closing moments of twilight, led along by a serene piano line and a droning layer of strings and voices in the background, parting way occasionally for a flute that largely imitates the piano. This song alone would likely rope in a lot of people who are predisposed to the atmospheric depth common to a number of funeral doom bands, in spite of the less auspicious production values.

Given that this release is being offered free for all to hear, it is definitely worth a listen, though its audience will tend towards the same exclusive minority in the black metal scene that go in the opposite direction of mainline bands of late. It presents a simplicity that would seem to invite a larger scene, but also a blatant disregard for conventional structure and sonic presentation. This isn't the sort of music that necessarily redefines existing conventions, but is merely bored with attempting to fit in with them at every juncture, yet still maintains an optimal familiarity with other noted figures as referenced earlier.

- hells_unicorn

The is an unexplainable attractiveness to music that buries itself in a low-fidelity production and an assortment of synthetic guitar effects to the point that it seems to be paper thin, yet all-encompassing in the remaining 2 dimensions of its nature. It's difficult to put into a clear perspective, but the sort of blurry, impressionistic landscapes that come into being when hearing one of the various ambient keyboard works out of Burzum or Ildjarn has this effect and will tend to rope in a willing listener to the point of forgetting the world around him. On Molodost's 2nd studio offering, which translates into "Sea Of Dreams", stands a somewhat uneven yet largely inviting rehash of the same principle, but painted over with an intentionally disjointed presentation.

A resulting duality between distant yet coherent sounding melodic ideas and closer yet jarringly obtuse ones defines the primary song, which clocks in at a fairly long 7 minutes plus and makes little secret of its desire to avoid overt production clarity. Much of the song tends to be dominated by a singular, almost toy-like electric guitar that is closely followed by an even more toy-like drum line. All sense of symmetry seems to come and go with the few passing blast beats, which obscure the guitars to a great degree in the background, though they are actually less present than a recurring lead guitar line that intentionally sounds out of tune. at least by the Western well-tempered standard. Vocals mostly come in the form of a faint, low-toned whisper and have only a slight, nominal impact on what is largely an instrumental work.

By contrast, the closing Mortifera cover takes a strictly keyboard oriented route, and definitely lends itself heavily to the sort of dreamy, lost in a mist character that was present on Burzum's "Hliðskjálf", though the song itself is less informed by the latent Eastern influences of said album. It conjures up appropriate images of deep contemplation while alone on a beach either at sunrise or in the closing moments of twilight, led along by a serene piano line and a droning layer of strings and voices in the background, parting way occasionally for a flute that largely imitates the piano. This song alone would likely rope in a lot of people who are predisposed to the atmospheric depth common to a number of funeral doom bands, in spite of the less auspicious production values.

Given that this release is being offered free for all to hear, it is definitely worth a listen, though its audience will tend towards the same exclusive minority in the black metal scene that go in the opposite direction of mainline bands of late. It presents a simplicity that would seem to invite a larger scene, but also a blatant disregard for conventional structure and sonic presentation. This isn't the sort of music that necessarily redefines existing conventions, but is merely bored with attempting to fit in with them at every juncture, yet still maintains an optimal familiarity with other noted figures as referenced earlier.

- Imperialtroll