Review Summary: Maybe, in a dream...
I’ve often admired Fallujah’s intensely emotive qualities as an amalgam of technical and progressive death metal, two genres notoriously unknown for such. Whether it’s their emphasis on the infinitely soaring leads of Scott Carstairs, the shimmering ambience that permeates each song, or Alex Hoffman’s surprisingly personal and human lyrics offered through his distinctive mid to lower ranged roar, Fallujah offer an approach that doesn’t really fit the sterile, robotic stereotype of their peers. Not that they’re perfect in that regard. Certain aspects do fit that image (mostly the constant, and constantly insufferable, production complaints), but for the most part these contrasting traits are what makes them stand out.
Dreamless is a refusal to leave what its predecessor,
The Flesh Prevails, started and even takes it further in multiple ways, further solidifying Fallujah’s place as one of the most fascinating bands in progressive death metal today.
Despite the title,
Dreamless is a distinctly dreamier affair than
The Flesh Prevails. Their trademark approach to atmosphere and ambience has been ramped up immensely here, lending floaty, airy vibes to these songs. If anything,
Dreamless seems more focused on being a progressive metal record than a technical one.
The Flesh Prevails straddled the line quite nicely, but the split is somewhat less even here with songs like the title track outright dismissing the band’s tech death roots in favor of ever expanding progressive soundscapes. There aren’t many songs that bring to mind the more vicious fare Fallujah has previously done, such as “Carved From Stone” or “Ritual of Godflesh”, but that’s alright really. Fallujah was never that impressive when they were trying to crush some skulls, it was their more thoughtful side that impressed and it’s clear on
Dreamless that they know this. Something like “The Void Alone” that’s dominated by melody and atmosphere and a wonderful guest performance by Tori Letzler really is enough as far as I’m concerned.
And as much as I like to talk Fallujah up as being infinitely more tasteful and subtle and emotive than other technical and progressive metal bands, they still like to show off their chops. Next to quiet ambient moments and drawn out melodies, the guitars still shred through lightning solos and jagged rhythms and the drums pound and blast through insane tempos. The difference is that they still know how to contrast these things instead of taking it to the extreme every second of every song.
The bottom line is that
Dreamless takes a lot of the things Fallujah developed on
The Flesh Prevails to the next level. It’s a lot less aggressive, but a hell of a lot proggier and definitely more ambitious (especially evident in the soft piano track "Fidelio" or the entirely alien experimentation of "Les Silences", the latter of which will probably raise eyebrows). Admittedly, it’s missing a little something of
The Flesh Prevails songwriting which just ends up complimenting Fallujah further when you consider that even when their songwriting isn’t quite at its height, it’s still this goddamn good.
And yes, the production is a lot better than
The Flesh Prevails.
