Only in My Dreams

I had a bit of a hard time making up my mind about Nebelfront, though I suppose that I'm more positively inclined than not toward the album as a whole. Reason being is that the author in question attempts to sit on two stools, as they say, to demonstrate his affinity for traditional black metal, while, at the same time, spicing it up with contemporary elements of blackgaze and/or post-black. I'd give Herbstklang Nebelfront (the author) props for maintaining the balance and keeping it tasteful. The presence of foreign elemements such as post-rock inspired segments, fem vocals, sparkling melodies, rockish drum beats et. al. (anything Alcest-esque, you could say) are kept well under control and utilized as cosmetic enhancements as opposed to being granted a fully defining role. You get a dose of brutality, a dose of atmosphere and softer sensibility, what else can you ask of contemporary millennial metal (pun certainly intended). The album's title does give it away, however, and the impact of the above noted foreign elements does have a lasting effect. Even at its most brash and bashing, this is a rather dreamy take on black metal in its essence, which shows so much less concern with thorny, primordial darkness than with its own flights of introspective longings. Riffing and compositions may not be the most captivating, yet just effective enough to keep on listening. If they were any less reserved and more aspiring towards gaudy creativity, and if the production was more polished, the balance here would wind up conspicuously dislodged in favor of overzealous fruitiness and unnecessary sentimentality. Hence, the album is a pretty decent genre example of artistic self-restaint and rationale.