Scent of a Dream

That unbeatable feeling of bumping into an amazing album you've never heard before. Considering that this gem came out 11 years ago, I was abysmally late, oh well better late than never. This album, as you may have inferred from the genre tags, focuses on atmosphere and certainly delivers. The synthesizers, the backing choirs, the constant change of vocal techniques, everything in this album blends together beautifully forming a coherent effort.

It's amazing how a song almost touching the 9-minute mark can offer so much diversity, forcing the listener to pay attention and never becoming bored. Hell, even the breakdowns work in the title track which I am otherwise not a fun of. The closing track " Endless " is probably the most well known song of this rather obscure record. It definitely delivers, creating a gloomy, bleak atmosphere and serving as a great closer and is one of the two more accessible songs on the record, considering that it only incorporates clean vocals and catchy lyrics. In my humble opinion it may just be the weakest track on the record, but this does not make it weak and my opinion does not derive from the fact that it is more accessible, since "Years Of Silence" may just be even more easy to the ear at times than the closer. Speaking of, Years of Silence, appearing half way into this beauty of a CD is probably the highlight. It beautifully unfolds in its 7-minute duration and drags the listener into an emotional journey, incorporating an abundance of folk influences. Nothing in this track is overdone though. The vocal melodies are absolutely stunning and the vocals are mostly clean, except at points where a black metal shriek simply prevails. I especially enjoy the last verse where the clean vocals are accompanied by harsh ones. The whole album, other than creating a bleak atmosphere also carries with it an epic feeling, sometimes touching on the bombastic sounds of many symphonic, epic metal bands. Some riffs and vocal melodies are also very reminiscent of European power metal.

Although not as prevalent, deep death growls appear on this album as well. They may not be the best death growls in the genre but they do add to the atmosphere, mostly forming a bridge between emotion, melody and harshness which is something I appreciate. The lyrics contribute to the atmosphere of the album although they are nothing really special and are what you find in most extreme metal records toying with similar subjects.

Overall, this is an amazing CD. It unquestionably draws influence from the early Agalloch and Insomnium albums which is only a good thing. There is also a 'scent' of influence from Swallow the Sun's debut or maybe even Arthemesia's and Catamenia's debuts. Scent of a Dream however has a distinct enough sound. I would definitely recommend this album to fans of the aforementioned bands, atmospheric music fans and simply, fans of beautiful music.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much when I decided to give this album a shot. Although I had read good things about Thurisaz in reviews in magazines and on the internet, I never really decided to sit down and give them a chance until recently. I was actually more interested in checking out their latest album, "Circadian Rhythm," since that was the album I had heard all the buzz about, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to hear what the band's first album sounded like. I still haven't listened to "Circadian Rhythm," but I was so impressed with "Scent of a Dream" that I felt compelled to write a review, especially since no one else has written one yet on here, which I found to be pretty surprising.

When I first listened to this album, I was immediately impressed with the production quality. For a band to sound this well-produced and mixed on self-released material is a rare quality indeed, even by today's standards. Despite all that's going on in this album, the music never sounds cluttered or murky, and every instrument can be heard clearly and powerfully. Add to this the myriad of vocal styles (growls, rasps/screams, clean vocals), melodic keyboard atmospherics and effects, and it's pretty amazing that this album turned out somehow sounding like it did.

As for the actual performance of the band, it's clear that Thurisaz are not only great musicians, but great songwriters as well. Sure, some of the lyrics and synth effects are a little cheesy (my only complaints), and I'm sure many will be turned off by the clean vocals that are prominently featured throughout the album, but only the most stubborn of elitists would deny that these guys are pros. Whether it's the existential madness portrayed in the rousing opener "A Timeless Flame," or the Opeth-like beauty in "Years of Silence," Thurisaz play a brilliant, eclectic mix of melodic black/death metal, gothic metal, and progressive metal.

2004 was a great year in metal, and "Scent of a Dream" was definitely the cream of the crop. Not to be pigeonholed in any specific metal genre, I would recommend Thurisaz to almost anyone into atmospheric metal- Opeth, Insomnium, My Dying Bride, and Agalloch immediately come to mind. If this sounds like your kind of thing, get this album! I'm almost positive you won't be disappointed! Thurisaz set the bar pretty high with this album, so I'm looking forward to checking out their next.