CoC : Dreamsfear - Prelude to Destiny : Review

Dreamsfear - _Prelude to Destiny_
(Ill-Omen Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10)

Although this is described in the promotional material as power/thrash, only the first song, "Ruins", comes close to fitting such a description. The next two songs, "Bleak Horizons" and "As Darkness Falls", are mid-paced and semi-doomy, and the last song of this nearly 30 minutes long MCD, "Burning Bridges", even sounds a bit too much like a "power ballad" for my taste. Dreamsfear are from Ireland, but the doom elements in their music are completely different from those of the excellent, and also Irish, Primordial. (Speaking of doomy influences in Dreamsfear's music, one of the band members is actually wearing a My Dying Bride t-shirt in the band photo, which is unusual for a power/thrash band -- and the t-shirt is even from the _Turn Loose the Swans_ era!) Anyway, after the reasonably well done but not very interesting opener, "Bleak Horizons" shows those doomier elements. The clean vocals seem more effective here than on the opening track, and the song itself generally flows better. However, the track that I ended up enjoying the most was clearly the third one, "As Darkness Falls", which combines what the band does best in each of the first two songs. The chorus is especially good, although simple. In the booklet, the band thanks "everyone involved in the recording and production of this misadventure" and also "almost everyone of you for your lack of belief and encouragement, without which this would not have been possible". Well, I don't know how serious they were when they wrote that, but I personally do think that there may be hope for Dreamsfear -if- they concentrate on the kind of music that constitutes the best parts of this MCD -- namely some of "Bleak Horizons" and "As Darkness Falls" -- and find better ways to keep the heaviness level sufficiently high.

(article published 13/2/1999)