It’s a good while since I heard any death-doom; I’m not sure it would be right to say that I have purposely avoided it but not much of it has crossed my path of late that I have wanted to keep hold of. It can be a bit overwhelming when nine albums in the death/funeral/gothic-doom all turn up at once as there is only so much time one can devote to each album and after a while they all start to sound incredibly dull and very samey. It’s refreshing that when I do break my spell of death-doom abstinence that it is with an album that has something a bit more to offer than the average Paradise Lost clones.
I reviewed an EP from this Portuguese band last summer just as they were on the verge of getting signed and equally I was impressed with what they had to offer. Here a lonely guitar melody leads us in to ‘Neophyte’ effectively, a crushing wall of sound rising up and setting a heavy backdrop for the mellifluous vocals of Joao Melo. Their sound is incredibly melodic and as we arrive at the chorus there’s a real sense of wonder that draws me in. The music here doesn’t deliberately set out to be overly morose or heavy and there’s something very charming about its use of warm, Mediterranean sounding melodies that really give a unique flavour especially on ‘Os Vultos.’ The guitar work on this track is excellent; incredibly classy and there’s a very classic feel to the solos which flow like molten rock.
This is the second release featuring vocalist Joao Melo and he has a really distinctive voice; he can certainly pull off the intense deathly growls with panache, but more impressive are his clean vocal parts which are really fragile and at times very wondrous. There’s a tremendous amount of passion in his delivery especially on ‘Chrysopocia,’ without sounding whiny or over the top. It is good to see ‘Lady Of Shalott’ on here, which was my favourite number on the EP and again the blending of wistful, dreamy acoustics and crushing death-doom rhythms work very well here. The vocal wails that haunt the chorus bring to mind Thom Yorke here (no, I shall refrain from making the same faux pas of accusing Melo of sounding like a girl!) ‘Liber XIIX’ seems to flow effortlessly from this track, the same soporific melody weaving its way through until the intensity of the chorus really makes you sit up and take note.
It’s easy to see the band take influence from the likes of Katatonia and November’s Doom, while I am also reminded a bit of The Prophecy particularly in the vocal style. On the whole this album is a really enjoyable listen, and definitely this band has more to offer than many of the lesser known bands in the genre. Highly recommended.
http://www.myspace.com/dreamofpoe
