Dream Diabolic

Self realisation has dawned upon me that I’ve been slightly idiotic to have under-rated Dream Diabolic. It took me several listens of their four originals posted on Reverbnation to get to this band’s music. Clearly they have tried hard to set themselves apart with their brand of metal. And in a few occasions they have succeeded too. Having played in the prestigious IIT-Guwahati hosted Alcheringa, the band caught my curiosity when Dragon urged me to give them a serious listen. Until recently the band claimed to belong to a genre they termed as “Abstract Hardcore”. I wondered what that meant. But let’s be honest here, in no way did they exhibit any attributes of hardcore. Then what are they? I put their songs on repeat and gave them a listen.

“Greatness In Endless Sleep” gives a punk feel in its initial 5-6 seconds. But the sound changes quickly as the other instruments enter along with the guitar. Bass comes in with a clear sound. As soon as the vocals begin they remind one of Chris Barnes’ vocals from his work with Six Feet Under. The keyboards do an intelligent job that is not usually seen in metal bands. Well to be honest, I’ve seen pretty much all bands with keys playing a very symphonic mix of melodic death and black. So does this band too sometimes. But at a minimum. As far as the drums are concerned they seem to be overdone at places in this song. “Necromenser” (yes that’s the spelling!) caught me by surprise with its old school death metal drums. Riffs too were well done inspired heavily from Thrash bands like Municipal Waste. This song seems to progress towards black influences with the use of tremolo picking, backbone of the genre. It is quickly followed by a compensating heavy thrash riff which is again interspersed with tremolo picking. Bass crawls in but appears not to do much justice to the song in providing a groove to an already raw sound. But probably that’s what the band wants. Something unexpected turns up in the bridge section. Influences from Carnatic music. And that’s when I went holy shit!! It seems that composing solos is the guitarist’s forte. And again the keys bring in an additional feel to the already well established soundscape. “Palace of an Orphan” starts with a power-metal mood with its intro and the fill-ins with the keys between the verses. The dual-vocal layers are a refreshing touch to their sound. Riffs are mostly mid-tempo. Once again the guitarist shows off his capabilities in the bridge. “Words Created God” is a total mosher and compels the listener to headbang how much ever she/he denies to do so. Riffs however could have been less predictable and the pinch harmonics more audible. Surpisingly, the song loses track and fails to come back to its original sound as it progresses. This is where I get a feeling they’re trying to set foot in the lands of Prog Metal. This makes them end up with a very random sound due to which they lose the brutality.

Overall this band was enjoyable after a couple of listens though I don’t think their songs will last long on my music player if they don’t come up with something different than what they are producing now. The highlights of this band would definitely be the keyboards and also a special mention to the commendable effort on the guitars for the solos and the exhaled vocals used by the vocalist. Drums would’ve earned a mention had they not been overdone to earn the title of being a technical band. But they’d do the job had it not been for the riffs which don’t astonish at all.

Enjoy!