Review Summary: All Shall Perish release a great record, showing growth in style and finesse while maintaining their signature sound.
The third full-length record from
All Shall Perish has impressed me greatly. For starters, I can't say this record is held back by filler tracks like
The Price of Existence.
Awaken the Dreamers takes everything about All Shall Perish and ups the ante, furthering their noise and forming it into something definitive, natural, and above all, meaningful. The lyrical themes touch upon betrayal and the impact of death, which really hits home when presented in this form.
The vocals still retain their interesting fusion styles, but this time around, they add in another one: Halford. That's right; it's very prominent in the second track "Black Gold Reign", which, besides being awesome, is a very meaningful song. I really dig the vocal styles, s well as the increased technicality in the guitar sounds. The drums sound more refined than ever - a logical progression - but show little other change from their last record. In some ways, this is a good thing: the drumwork was very good in their last album, and I have no complaints with the drums of
Dreamer.
The record also includes three instrumentals, which help to set the mood for a morose night. The first one, "For the Ones We Left Behind", has a definitive '50s postmortem mourning feel to it, and it lends well to the title track, which is masterfully crafted itself. Possibly my biggest surprise was the presence of clean vocals in the title track and the follow-up song, "Memories of a Glass Sanctuary". The best part about All Shall Perish is the experimentation factor. It helps set this band aside from the rest of death metal, and they really deserve props, because they pull it off very well. Nothing in this album feels particularly forced - even the slow, solemn works like "Memories of a Glass Sanctuary" feel natural and very emphatic. This might alarm some fans who haven't listened to this record yet, but I don't view them as going soft. In fact, their other tracks off the record are the heaviest off of all their albums so far. They're maturing as a band, and it's coming along quite nicely through all their hard work at the splendid experimentation with new techniques and the refinement of their old ones.
"Gagged, Bound, Shelved, and Forgotten" is definitely an album highlight. Its use of incredible guitar and mastery of the vocals is just awe-inspiring. The next track, "From So Far Away", is another instrumental that works excellently as a mood-setter for the next track, "Until the End". This instrumental-into-full song is repeated with "Misery's Introduction" and album closer "Songs for the Damned." The closing song is just incredible, and in many ways, I wish they pulled out the six-minute-plus track length with this one. Its use of the whole band's talents has been high throughout the album, but only now, in the ending point of this amazing record, do I see them utilising their full power. It's such an epic release,
Dreamers is, that it sets a new bar for Perish - a bar that I hope they opt to shatter with
This is Where it Ends, their fourth and upcoming studio album.
Recommended Tracks
1.) Black Gold Reign
2.) Memories of a Glass Sanctuary
3.) From So Far Away
4.) Gagged, Bound, Shelved, and Forgotten
5.) Songs for the Damned
