CoC : In Thy Dreams - Highest Beauty : Review

In Thy Dreams - _Highest Beauty_
(Century Media, 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis (4 out of 10)

I was under the impression that Swedish melodic death metal was supposed to be catchy. Classic melodic death songs such as "Blinded by Fear" (At the Gates) and "Zodjackyl Light" (Dark Tranquillity) had insanely catchy hooks that embedded themselves in your mind for days, sometimes weeks afterwards. Now what if, say, At the Gates wrote some melodic death songs without the inherent catchiness? If they did, it would probably sound something like this album. Totally boring and extremely tedious. Despite repeated listenings I am not able to recall a single riff. This album isn't without some merit, however, as In Thy Dreams demonstrate that they are more then adequate musicians -- it's just a pity that they are such bad songwriters. Hopefully their next release will see them realising their full potential, writing some more memorable songs.

(article published 14/1/2002)