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is an alternative progressive heavy rock band hailing from
Italy with the self-stated purpose of challenging modern
ideas of how heavy rock music sounds. “A Blind Man's
Dream” is the third album to come from them since their
founding in 2006. While the album doesn't challenge heavy
rock as much as it embraces it, this release is without a
doubt a success of both style and substance that certainly
plays with the tropes and traditions of heavy rock.
The
first song, “Manicomium,” is quite characteristic
of the style of this diverse album. It opens nicely with a
romping guitar riff that is quickly transformed into an
enjoyable metal riff using the same melody, and the song
naturally flows from there. About four minutes in we are
treated to some melodies clearly influenced by Middle Eastern
music (especially helped by band founder Kostas Ladopoulos'
bouzouki playing), but still with the central core of the
melodies and riffs previously established in the minutes
beforehand, and this doesn't last long before a mean guitar
solo erupts.
This
constant traveling between styles while maintaining a brand
of consistency between Near East melodies and more western
style metal is essentially this album in a nutshell:
controlled chaos with some really great melodies and synergy
between the instrumentalists. The music at times approaches a
mathcore-esque style with its technicality and metallic
feeling, but this is balanced by the occasionally beautiful
foray into folk-style guitar work. And, despite the chaotic
instrumentals, at the end of the day the writing in most of
the songs on this album adhere to established and predictable
song structures, which perhaps is more necessary given the
unpredictable nature of the composition of the song sections
themselves. It certainly helps to guide listeners expecting
some amount of predictable structure.
The
most diverse and unexpected portions of this album come from
the composition and delivery of the vocals by William
Costello. He goes from a fairly “normal” style of
singing to injecting a ton of personality and character into
his delivery. In “Sirens” he at times channels
influences similar to Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, and all the
better for it. Some may loathe that comparison but I think it
really works here. This vocalist is very strong in a
multitude of styles and the writing gives him a lot of space
to show it off, thus always keeping me on my toes throughout
repeated listenings. He particularly shines in songs like
“Food for Thought” where he alternates between
grimly muttering his lines to sounding like a twisted MC in
an infomercial. And then there are moments like in
“Electroshock” where all he does is scream as if
he's in pain and it still works! He sounds like a less
over-the-top Devin Townsend as Ziltoid in these moments and
to me, at least, it's a lot of fun to listen to.
And
this is definitely an album to be listened to multiple times.
The listener is rewarded when they recognize recurring motifs
in the music at several points throughout the nearly hour
long journey. This melodies are often repeated with
deliberate differences that are pleasing to compare. Even if
you don't care as much as these structural triumphs in the
writing, the music is so tight and so well done that “A
Blind Man's Dream” can be enjoyed by a diverse
audience.
