Adam's Dream

South Korea, in case you’re wondering. Yeah, there’s some talent flowing out of this very obscure recording which was an early entrance from the scene over there, way earlier than the more popular thrash metal wave (Sahon, Method, Silent Eye, etc.) that hit with full force in the late-90’s/early-00’s. Having in mind that these lads had gotten together in the distant 1984, we can totally talk about arguably the first genuine metal formation on South Korean soil.

There were only sporadic appearances on compilations before the release of the album reviewed here; not much activity in this band’s camp for reasons unknown, and nothing on the creative front after this opus… a mysterious batch for sure, the mystery deepened by the fact that none of these four musicians were seen in any other act later. Well, the music featured on this album is only too tangible, and it clings towards the power/doom metal hybrid, think the early works of the Swedes Mercy only that instead of a deeply religious wailer along the lines of Messiah Marcolin we have very attached, near-falcetto vocal exploits that easily touch even King Diamond himself on the most dramatic developments.

The two mentioned genres are not offered separately, but form a tight embrace on each composition with heavy slow-motion sections co-existing with faster-paced, frequently galloping, excursions as the most distinguished from a doom metal point-of-view number would be the epic-tinged, also patriotic, “Korea” with the sinister creepy “Beyond the Church” a close second. Power metal fails to claim a fulsome victim although whenever the gallops come to play the situation is that close to reaching the headbanging parametres, especially on the more volatile, more erratically executed “The Gate of Heaven”. The singer plays an important part as his emotional tirades constitute a hefty fraction of the proceedings, but his voice wavers at times surprisingly struggling more on the more levelled mid-ranged moments; the higher tones seem to be his nature and the man doesn’t disappoint on those, the culmination in this trend reached on the sorrowful balladic title-track.

The more energetic moments will also remind of another opus released in the same latitudes, the Japanese Genocide’s excellent “Black Sanctuary”. This effort here is not as convincing and not as tightly performed, though; the very disputable sound quality is another detriment, depriving the guitars from sharpness and resounding clicks and clocks. Not that those are absolutely necessary in a supposedly doom metal recording, but still the absence of a more articulate guitar sound gives this album a somewhat timid aura. And it shouldn’t be the case provided that the guys had close to ten years to hone their weapons… the latter shouldn’t sound opaque and muffled.

On the other hand, this is as much criticism as can be thrown over this opus; it has its highs, and as a pioneering attempt in the power/doom metal field it delivers for most of the time. It even sounded relevant to an extent as a similar hybridization wave (Memento Mori, Veni Domine, Pathos, Abstrakt Algebra, etc.) was stirred in Sweden at around the same time although the Koreans’ approach also sides more readily with the 80’s US power metal arena on those dynamic sections; it lacks the progressive depth and gravity so characteristic of the Swedish group. Who knows, maybe said depth was the next thing on the band’s list… it’s a damned pity that Eden claimed them so early.