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Rating: 10.0 Release Date: 2005 Record Label: PsycheDOOMelic Records Track list: Band Website: Dream Death |
Dream Death - Back From The Dead
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| Lineup Tracks 1-6: Brian Lawrence- Guitars/ Vocals Ted Williams- Bass Mike Smail- Drums |
Lineup Tracks 7-11: Brian Lawrence: Guitars/Vocals Ted Williams: Bass Mike Smail: Drums |
Lineup Track 12-14: Brian Lawrence: Guitars/Vocals Terry Weston: Bass Mike Smail: Drums |
Two words: CELTIC FROST. To be fair, your opinion of Dream Death will by and large be shaped on your love/contempt/indifference for Celtic Frost's first two records, for I have always been firmly convinced that any Celtic Frost aficionado necessarily REQUIRES Dream Death's momentous 'Journey Into Mystery' debut. As a self-avowed, fanatically devoted worshipper of the first two Celtic Frost records (the first of which is my second favourite metal record of all time, after 'Black Sabbath'), I have always held 'Journey Into Mystery' in VERY high regard, and along with Obituary's 'Slowly We Rot', Darkthrone's 'Blaze In The Northern Sky', Necrophagia's 'Season Of The Dead' and Winter's 'Into Darkness', I can with scarce doubt assert that it is unquestionably the finest post-Frost sludge metal recording. What we have here is a compendium of demo material from the kind folks at Austrian doom institution Psychedoomelic, culling many of the tracks that wormed their way onto that particular monument in metallic history, as well as a number of ditties that have remained lost in time until now.
First in the shuffle is “Sealed In Blood”, undoubtedly one of the standouts featured on 'Journey Into Mystery'. The formula employed with obviously be familiar to all who have, on more than one occasion, trodden on the well-worn tracks of 'Morbid Tales'- guitars that ooze out the speakers like primordial sewage, funereal rhythms that rumble with sadistic intent, gutwrenching low-end and excruciatingly enunciated Gabriel Fischer grunts. Not unlike much vintage Celtic Frost, the track segments the dreary, droning drudgery that dominates the number with more midtempo, surging fare, the rhythms switching effortlessly between thud and clunk to galloping, martial pulses accented by some VERY cool fills. This formula hardly changes throughout the record, the band obstinately pillaging the likes of “The Usurper” and “Dethroned Emperor” for unhallowed inspiration, and ALWAYS managing to unearth some GREAT SONGS in the process.
Sifting through the indolent, lethargic crawl of “Meet Thy Maker”, the splendidly minimalistic, alarmingly rock n' roll oriented groove-based instrumental “Wolves Bane” and the slithering, serpentine nefariousness of “Under The Blood Red Moon” (which boasts a COOL rocking bridge halfway through that wouldn't be out of place on Cathedral's 'Carnival Bizarre'…not a real surprise, really, considering how much lip service Lee Dorrian and Gaz Jennings have paid to 'Journey Into Mystery' since Cathedral's inception), we arrive at “Dream Death”, undoubtedly the sharpest scimitar in Dream Death's considerable armoury. The vocals here project a sneering, snarling, Cronos-esque grit, Brian sounding a good deal more spiteful than earlier on the demo, while the riffs are far more urgent and bombastic than the dirges that proceeded them, Lawrence and Williams firing flesh-flaying fusillades of frenzied riffage that I'm sure will render even the most jaded cynic into a headbanging, drool-drenched slop. You CANNOT fuck with the riff that comes up 03:20 through the track. I'd go so far as to say that the entire CD is worth the purchase for THAT lone riff, one that belongs on an ivory throne with the likes of “Dethroned Emperor”, “Into The Void” and “The Four Horsemen”.
Onwards to the second demo, “More Graveyard Delving”, then. Little has changed since the first demo, really, as the rhythms and riffing still ooze the dolour and misery of 'Triumph Of Death', proving Dream Death to be the true spiritual and aesthetic forbears of Winter and Saint Vitus, who of course placed similar emphasis upon THE RIFF ™ © ®, extrapolating THE RIFF ™ © ® and stretching it to oblivion via oppressively minimalistic/sparse structures. “Back From The Dead” is a grinding, churning, abysmal affair, certainly a prominent feature of 'Journey Into Mystery', and a clear highlight on this here compendium. Meanwhile, “Back From The Dead”, my personal pick as second finest track on their debut platter, makes an appearance here in embryonic form, flaunting an absolutely MASSIVE riff and supporting rhythm that easily holds its own against the finest Frost material. “Method To Madness” is 'More Graveyard Delving's own “Dream Death”, the band once again indulging their inner Venoms in gratuitous form via cascading, tumbling, Abbadon-esque hack n slash, callous Cronos caterwauling and searing speed metal riffing. This intensity spills over to “Bitterness & Hatred”, where the Cronos-isms generally prevail over the G Warrior likeness that was so evident throughout the first demo. It's also obvious that the sound is considerably thicker and less blanketed by acrid filth than the first go-around, though one can't help but think, as the demo carries its course, that the band sound considerably BETTER under a few layers of bilious, putrescent mulch. In truth, I would go so far as to say that the first '86 demo is the best SOUNDING recording Dream Death have committed to tape, and given the luxury of choice, I now wish that 'Journey Into Mystery' had the same idiosyncratic charm.
Thankfully, the 'Ode To Sorrow' demo makes no great strides in the interests of “polish” and “sheen”, the band sounding perfectly comfortable with the natural, garagey spontaneity rawness of the recording. The charm of this record, and indeed most great demos, hinges on the “in the moment” immediacy and honesty of the recording, which really gives the listener a glimpse into the Dream Death live experience. No pathetic overdubs here, this is a genuine, grit-caked, one-take snapshot of a band at the height of their powers. Of all the demos featured on this compilation, 'Ode To Sorrow' is quite possibly the weakest, inclining more towards the trad-schooled DOOM METUHL that the three would later peddle with the mighty Penance (another favourite of mine). That is to say, this demo still fucking rules, but represents a markedly different direction than the Dream Death I have come to know and love.
Throughout the years, as Journey Into Mystery has clambered up my formidable list of “Celtic Frost fix” records, I have continually yearned for more material from a band that has proved virtually peerless in its field. Never did I imagine that the demo material could, in fact, be several times BETTER than said album in feel, sound and execution. This is a fucking landmark, right up there with 'Morbid Tales', 'Into Darkness', 'Majestic Thou In Ruin', 'Saint Vitus', sovereign of all that sticky, sinewy, sinuous doomy bludgeon that fanatics like us seek solace in. If you have yet to witness the sounds of Dream Death, PLEASE do so before this CD goes out of print.
    
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