CoC : Dream Into Dust - The World We Have Lost : Review

Dream Into Dust - _The World We Have Lost_
(Elfenblut, 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10)

Soundscapes of desolate fields and shattered lives left behind by the battles of an all-encompassing war -- this is the best description I can think of for what Dream Into Dust try to achieve with _The World We Have Lost_. The music consists of a mix of dark ambient, occasionally some simple and generally unobtrusive industrial/warlike background percussion, mostly keyboard-generated string instruments such as violin and cello together with some guitar, and usually sombre clean vocals on top. The elements used by Dream Into Dust tend to vary somewhat from track to track, but they are generally part of the list above; however, this variety isn't always good. Sometimes a bit too melodic (usually vocal-wise), more often relying excessively on barren atmospheric passages, Dream Into Dust have some difficulty achieving the right mix during _The World We Have Lost_ -- which they do often enough to keep the album interesting, though occasionally just barely. Plenty of tracks contain fine moments, though, particularly "Cross the Abyss" and "Not Above But Apart" -- a song which reminded me a bit of At the Gates' superb acoustic track "And the World Returned" from _Terminal Spirit Disease_. Add to this some very interesting and highly adequate misanthropic lyrics and well-chosen artwork, and the resulting dark, desolate atmosphere that enshrouds _The World We Have Lost_ is certainly a very good reason for me to feel like listening to it despite the fact that the music tends to wander off a bit too much for my taste.

Contact: http://www.chthonicstreams.com

(article published 15/1/2000)

ALBUMS
2/5/1997	A Bromley	3	Dream Into Dust - Dream Into Dust