Wish I Could Dream It Again...

Those familiar with this band lend praise to the latter half of their career, a true reversal to the common fact that most bands begin to suck as they get older. It came to my attention that this album was rerecorded as Dreams D’Azur because the band felt this album wasn’t an accomplished piece. You’d think that with the help of even the almighty, omnipotent, man-boy lover Dan Swanö would give these lads a helping hand, but no… the production job sucks now, and it sucked back then, let alone this album just being a complete waste of fucking time as it is. To state the entire review would be painful yet true: the formula works, the execution… just disgusting.

These guys know how to write songs, I’ll give them that. Now to top it off, the production is fairly good when compared to, say, Ulver’s Nattens Madrigal. In this genre, the job is so mutilating that it makes the listening experience unbearable. Remarkably, there is a tinge of nostalgia throughout, and I can’t help but dream of tan beaches, clear blue skies, lush vegetation, and all the Italian women I can have. Keep this in mind, because they’ll perfect this wet dream on Dreams D’Azur. The job here is just dull, with the mix being lower than what you’d expect, the actually instruments played in a hurry with no emotion, and the clean vocals just putrid. Carmelo had his harsh vocals down from the beginning (an exhaled scream more like it), but those cherished clean vocals so masterfully executed on later albums just sound like roadkill here – dull, bland, tasteless, and impassive.

All of the above characteristics of the vocals carry over with the instruments as well. Keyboards are droopy and give off a diluted effect, such as the intro to “Swim Seagull In The Sky.” Bass is damn near non-existent but can be heard when songs become subtle, thanks to Swanö’s poor job. The guitars you’d hope would save this record, and they would had they more power and life juiced into them. However, here they are monotonous and on par with even screechy black metal at times, with solos sounding very annoying. At the end of “Swim Seagull In The Sky” though it sounds so fucking 80s and majestic it’s too good to be true. Seagulls must be that badass; I dunno, I always thought they were Guido pricks.

The bass drum, oh dear where did it go? Sounds like hammering a pumpkin, and a rotten one at that. The toms aren’t too tin, but the snares are flat like the vocals. Shit, Swanö played these guys for fools when he recorded this. It sucks, because these guys really had the formula down killer songs like “The Dream Of The Old Boats,” “Sirens In Filth,” “Swim Seagulls In The Sky,” “The Music,” and “Old Lighthouse Tale.” Acoustics are thrown in and out, but fuck me they can’t bring this one back. To listen to this album isn’t a completely obscene idea – it is possible, but the experience just isn’t worth it. Save yourself the trouble and just listen to the rerecorded version, Dreams D’Azur.