Dead as Dreams

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2025: #14. An album from the year of your birth (2nd Album)

Usually I steer away from extreme metal subgenres, as they either make me laugh due to how forced these albums feel, or how much their excessive repetitiveness dulls any moment present.

But things went a different road across the pond. The production is slightly better and more clear compared to their oversea "brothers", and while the 90s wave of black metal is characterized by deep fuzz and a cold atmosphere, Dead As Dreams feels like a polar (no pun intended) opposite. The album paints an image of an apocalyptic, infernal hellscape, and the screeching vocals feel like the souls of the damned trapped underneath the flaming tar.

This metal album sounds different, and I like it because of that. It's emotional and creative without the bullshit that's a "must" for a good metal album. Real shit, so to say.