Review Summary: ‘Dream On, Dreamer’ release an EP that falls short of promising.
The Australian metal scene has had its shares of ups and downs.
Dream On, Dreamer unfortunately fall short of that success with their
Hope EP. When describing what the EP sounds like, one could fall into the trap of saying it’s merely the same track six times over, while this is not quite the case, it becomes completely understandable by the time the listener has finished with the EP. The overall musical ideas that are being used become tiring as they are recycled over and over again. Even the song structuring does little to appease this effect. Most of the tracks follow the same patterns and in the same way for example; the screamed verses followed by a clean sung chorus often used with a soft, melodic (sometimes acoustic) bridge section.
Not all moments on the
Hope EP are poor, there are some redeemable moments that can be found in each members level of musicianship. Instrumentally, listeners can tell that each member knows what they are doing. Talent found especially behind the drum kit displays the highest level of technicality. The use of tempo changes and accent patterns holds the rest of the music together. Other members seem to feed off this technicality and promote the rhythmic effect of the accents, especially in the guitar sections. There are some parts that may cause the listeners attention to slip away, for example the bass guitar is rather unheard of throughout and the vocals are especially grating. Both the screams and the clean sections have a whiny tone and become repetitive very quickly. The clean vocals show some expertise but fall short of making any impression on the listener.
In terms of quality, the final track “In August” highlights the EP. The track itself opens with an interesting atmospheric and symphonic element which is a great show of the band’s creative writing ability. This is a great display of diversity and redeems some parts of the EP’s overall quality. A piano line provides the main melodic line throughout the track and proves for
Dream On, Dreamer simple works best. The piano line alone could be described as elegant and matches the music well.
Lyrical content often borders between vague but intelligent and typically cliché. Topics of love, death and opportunities missed all surface over the length of the EP and the use of vague somewhat metaphorical phrases allows some interpretation to be made by the listener.
Overall,
Dream On, Dreamer’s Hope EP falls short on the listeners ears. The band shows that they know how to write songs but are too limited with their ideas. While
Hope is not a full length release it does contain more than its share of filler tracks with only a couple of tracks that may have a higher play back value. The
Hope EP is brought down by semi recycled ideas and an unwillingness to remove themselves from the song structuring they cling to. To listen to the entire of
Hope EP is like watching a ball fly towards you, ready to catch it and have it land at your feet. The potential it had leaves the listener disappointed.
Track/s To Check Out:
• In August
