Review Summary: If Solution .45's debut album sometimes straddled the penumbra of boring, Nightmares in the Waking State, Pt. 1 takes a bold leap into the shadow proper.
So, what has the legendary Christian Älvestam, the person who in the opinion of many single-handedly carried the
Scar Symmetry stable - been up to? Well, obviously, him being Älvestam and all, he can't go wrong with anything he does... Or can he? Is the hype behind the man really enough to turn anything he touches into gold?
Oh, hardly.
The first part of the
Nightmares in the Waking State duology will be a sore disappointment to anyone who expected something top-notch, and even the most die-hard Christian fanboys are bound to lose interest after ten spins tops. Why is it? It's because this album contains very little in terms of ideas, instead it comes across as half-hearted, if robust, craftsmanship - the writers just going through the motions. Just another eleven cookie-cutter songs based around riffs come up with in 20 seconds. Any notion of dynamics within the songs is practically nonexistent, there is never any tension buildup leading to a release, hardly any change of pace. Instead we simply get unremakrable chorus after tired verse, ad infinitum. One of the lowest points of this release exemplifying aforementioned faults is the track "Wield the Scepter". The chorus of this track seems to have been modeled after
Soilwork's most radio-friendly era choruses, which is that band's laziest and blandest period - it's beyond me why anyone thought looking there for inspiration was a good idea in the first place.
But probably the biggest issue of this album is its Metallica Syndrome - songs that have no business at all being any longer than 3:30 end up clocking in at over five minutes. The whole album could afford to be at least a third shorter and nothing of essence would be lost. Everything about
Nightmares in the Waking State, Pt. 1 reeks of forgettability. The only noteworthy stuff I remember from listening through it are maybe three choruses and one other random section. It has about as much staying power as snow at +20 Celsius.
The outing is not at all without its redeeming qualities, though. The vocals are obviously well-executed. Some choruses are actually pretty catchy, such as the one in "Winning Where Losing Is All". The token ballad, "In Moments of Despair" is very pleasant and reminescent of the previous album's "Lethean Tears", and for what it's worth it's less sugary than that one - it however suffers probably the most of all the songs of being way too long and too safe in terms of structure and arrangement. And last but not least, the final track "I, Nemesis" - its arrangement and experimentation with electronics along with a tasteful ending make its 11-minute runtime more than bearable and paradoxically more justified than the runtimes of those other overlong songs. Still, it comes across as nothing more than a semi-decent
Disarmonia Mundi tribute at best. You'd be better served listening to those guys any day.
Overall, the heavily hyped
Pt. 1 is the epitome of so-so and even its finest moments rather than astound, only remind you of other, more interesting songs and other artists who have done the same ideas better. This album is the definitive proof that having a superior singer in the band doesn't autmatically mean you're gonna write good material. For dedicated fans of S. 45 only.
