DREYELANDS - ROOMS OF REVELATION - 2010

When I first saw the cover to Rooms Of Revelation; the debut album of Dreyelands, I thought it must be some kind of disturbed Extreme Doom Metal/Black Metal release. Either that or some other kind of nightmarish concept driven metal album. The cover actually reminds me of the video game "Alice". For those who didn't play it, it was an adventure type game where you controlled Alice (from the Wonderland saga) after she'd seen her parents die and Wonderland was a warped and evil version of its former self. You spend the game killing things with knives and various other tools. Reading up on the lyrics and themes of Room Of Revelation, it seems that what I thought about the cover wasn't too far off the mark. The album is about a man with schizophrenia who feels pain all the time as every woman he meets gets killed by his "other self". The man goes through a journey through a house which ends up being all in his head.

The songs on Rooms Of Revelation are divided into eight tracks (excluding the intro) and each track is about a different room of this house. I think I could have gotten more into the theme of the album if the music itself was darker and maybe more morbid. As it is the album is a reasonably melodic output of Progressive Metal. The music is piano (keyboard) laden and vocalist Nikola Mijic sings with quite some gusto. Maybe I'm just used to death-themed metal music being Death Metal, Black Metal or Extreme Doom; something along those lines. It is quite a different experience to be listening to music which normally seems happy, to be dealing with themes of nightmares and the like.

The music of Dreyelands sounds like it would be enjoyed by most Progressive Metal fans. It is quite layered and melodic and the musicians do a decent job at what they play. While some of the songs just troop on with their naturally technical guitar work and similarly pitched vocals, others do stand out as being catchier. The track "Vain" for example while being the longest on the album is probably the most interesting. The chorus is quite attractive and actually reminds me of Vanishing Point to some degree. Changes of pace in the song are nice with a clever solo above more soothing backing music, a much heavier lead out to the solo and some more avant-garde keyboard playing.

Even though Rooms Of Revelation is perhaps not what you'd expect if you'd just picked it up in a CD store, it's not too bad once you give it a few spins. It might not be the catchiest or variable album overall but it has it its moments and it should give entertainment to at least some of the more keen Progressive Metal listeners. Others may find it a bit much to digest…or it could be a revelation!
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