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Into Eternity > Dead or Dreaming > Reviews > trollhammer666
Into Eternity - Dead or Dreaming

Into Eternity - Dead or Dreaming - 100%

trollhammer666, November 14th, 2012

Instrumentally, this album sounds like a much more refined and polished version of Into Eternity’s debut album. The vast majority of the songs featured are cleaner-sounding with less distortion, but still pack that raw, somewhat demo-like quality. The complexity has not changed much, especially with the drumming. It is quite repetitive and sounds nearly identical in each song, but it will only bother you if you pay way too much attention to it since it holds everything together very nicely. I'm not trying to say the drumming is bad in any way, the man is clearly very talented and keeps each song as tight as need be. It would be nice to see him shine through in a few more songs though. The bass sounds great which I really enjoyed. The electronic elements they add in build an insane amount of character for the song and are so hard to get out of your head, they are that good. The small upward synth scale they use in Sorrow is a prime example. The acoustic bits throughout the album have a lot of echo, yet ring through your head like you were destined to hear them. Most of the acoustics are played with the bass quite loud behind it which prepares you for the upcoming heavy riff or the next big transition. I find this album to be the halfway mark (although it technically is) between their first release and Buried in Oblivion. There are a lot more complete-sounding melodies here than the first, yet not so over the top and perfected as BiO.

There is very little harsh vocals, but when they seldom come into play, they kick ass. They have an extremely guttural, demonic sound. It sounds like a beast clinging to the cliffs in hell, screaming for its life before its inevitable slide down into the fire below. I don’t think of harsh vocals to be a mandatory thing on IE’s first two releases, and since they sound so different (obviously besides the fact they have different singers for BiO and onward) you really can’t compare them to any of their other releases. With that being said, the clean vocals by Tim Roth here sound similar to their first album, but with more passion and emotion. He is very unique in the way he sings but I feel concerned hearing him scream because it sounds like he is so determined to get the right pitch that he will ruin his vocal chords too fast. I have to give him credit though, he is the mastermind and a fucking genius that is and has one hell of a clean voice. The lyrics are going to impact you if you are either going through a tough time in your life or a man with a vast, expansive mind, these tracks are packed with such good quotable and memorable one liners such as "one more pill is one too many". They are always singing about different things which is a great way to keep listeners entertained and interested.

The thing with Into Eternity for me is that although a lot of their choruses seem very unfitting or forced in, it gives them a very distinct sound that separates them from nearly all other melodic death bands. Each chorus itself is also very, very memorable and different from the last. I cannot think of a single Into Eternity song where I hear the track name and I can’t play the chorus over in my head, they stick to you that much. The riffs and intros and also extremely memorable, as if you find them engraving themselves into your head upon the first play. These guys have a monstrous place in my heart.