Dreams in Darkness

Santiago's Battlerage is yet further vampiric and theatrical Chilean heavy metal mainstay - an intermittently busy wasp, if its 2004, '09, '11 and '18 releases are anything to go by, with its latter instalment, the nine track, close to fifty minute Dreams Of Darkness solely featuring vocalist Fox-Lin Torres and multi-instrumentalist Soco Moraga (the rest of the leather clad buccaneers perhaps taking issue with former's gaudy eye-shadow).

Crunchily stacked and slamming, haywire rhythms are the order of night, with coherently staggered riff work emanating a maze-like and most punchy surround which requires successive spins to fully soak in, notwithstanding dexterous lead guitar flourishes worth their weight in virgin's blood. As added bonus, Fox-Lin's zanily King Diamond-ish, albeit meatier and throatier, delivery surpasses, in both innovation and intrigue, so many fellow national acts whose front men rashly embark on ye ole Bruce and Rob bandwagon. Although it's not a stretch to accuse of him, at times, of over-dramatic and trite vocal yowls which, as our friend above raged about, hint of the waylaid metal diva.

Working slightly in its favor, however, is the fact each track differentiates in tone and pace from the last, while still remaining respectably congruent over course of Darkness Dreams' wildly unpredictable evolution. Aside from Spanish sung, bass-heavy clutch of "Placer Infernal" and token late-game instrumental "Intellectual Dreams", the material is expunged in zestfully accented English. Top memorable air strikes include "Crazy Wolf", with its hyper-active nose bleeder of a lead, alongside fluidly Maiden-esque "Prisons Of Fire" and closing "bonus" track - who'd have thought the self-title would be placed, thus? Consider it another weird touch to an already eclectic, albeit musically solid, album.

A lack of soporific balladry also accrues points, with seven minute long "I See the Winter In Your Heart" replacing its preemptive delicacy with a svelte, solo strewn coda eventually taking vigorous flight, not quite unlike Icarus, but in a more progressive or thematically epic bent which is nothing to shake a sword at. That said, Battlerage's Dreams Of Darkness may incur its share of nonplussed criticism on behalf of more exigent metal heads, but still deserves a token spin (which, granted, sounds much better than the second).