Review Summary: If your looking for a powerish melodic black metal with shredding solos, check out MateriA's Dreams of Paradise.
Here is MateriA's debut album Dreams of Paradise. Being classified as melodic black metal surprised me due to the fact that it even sometimes sounded like Power Metal with grim vocals.
This debut album is loaded with melodic riffs, shred solos, and harsh screams. Included in this is a symphonic atmosphere created by the keyboards.
Into further detail most of the album has high-tempo songs ("Perdition", "Deathstream", "Dreams of Paradise") but also includes a slow more ambient song ("No Dawn of Day") and an instrumental ("Empty Throne"). On the downside the album's running time is short. "Equilibirum" is probably the hit of this album, with its odd changes which make it stand out from all the other songs.
Each song always includes its solo. Alessandro's soloing style, which sounds technical/melodic, shreds on the songs, but sometimes seems to break the ambience intended (like in "Perdition" and "No Dawn of Day"). Throughout the whole album the keyboards are always there for the atmosphere (no keyboard leads). The drums have a variety of progressions and changes which keep you listening. The bass seems to play no major part on the album.
So in all, if your looking for a powerish melodic black metal with shredding solos, check out MateriA's Dreams of Paradise.
