The Dreamside: Electronic Goth in a Pop-Rock World
Written: Sep 25 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting, mostly appealing songs...
Cons: Sometimes very derivative and lacks cohesion...
The Bottom Line: The Dreamside scared me at first. But upon further listening I wasn't frightened at all. They are a good band with a unique, although derivative, sound.
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| lambchops's Full Review: Mirror Moon - The Dreamside Movies |
When the package from deal gothic/metal/prog rock writer daumco arrived in my mailbox, I was definitely weary of the contents. He said he was sending a gift, and quite honestly his usual kind of review material isn’t much to my usual liking. I’m more of a quirky, eclectic, pop-rock sort of girl with a heavy leaning on occasion toward electronica. I was certain that the CD contained within wouldn’t be appealing.
But what I found upon opening the package was Mirror Moon from a band called The Dreamside that apparently hails from the Netherlands. It took me a long time to dig into the album as the cover frightened me—it was clearly gothic. I did however do some amount of research on the web and found that The Dreamside is known for their dancehall slant to the heavy metal genre. People still call their sound goth, but it has also been called a classic by many genre-specific sites.
So I finally bent to my own internal pressures and to my own promises to daumco to write about the album. I listened to it, and was pleasantly surprised about what material was contained within the foreboding packaging. I found that The Dreamside (at least in the case of Mirror Moon) sound more like a slightly darker Bjork than some loud, unrelenting gothic metal outfit. The Dreamside’s music is theatrical and rich and laced with ideas clear culled from the band’s varied and numerous influences.
Mirror Moon, released in May 2001 by Serenades Records, is overall fine enough. Any distaste I have for the album stems not from problems with the sound rather for the derivative nature of the music. See, if I wanted to hear Bjork I would listen to Bjork. Lead singer Kemi Vita has a lovely voice, but all too often I feel she’s trying to emulate the successful Icelandic pixie. At other times, The Dreamside even seems to incorporate darker moments of Duran Duran and other electronica-based pop groups and even a Pink Floyd like touch. But like I said aside from the derivative nature of the songs, the album is rather entertaining but not quite perfect.
Containing ten songs, I at times find the disc confusing. The band’s sound is not consistent. If they are going to be a metal outfit, then be one. And if they are going to be an electronica-dance outfit, then be one. But to skip and hop from song to song around these music ideas creates major issue when it comes to the cohesion of the album. Listening to each song alone is a much easier task then listening to Mirror Moon on the whole. But I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea—there are moments at which it seems The Dreamside are headed in a positive direction. I just don’t think that on this, their third album, they’ve quite fulfilled their potential.
Mirror Moon opens with the remarkably strong title track. I’m less keen on the verses as I am on the choruses. I think it is as the song picks up to a feverish pace in the chorus that the band is most perfect. The driving beats, electronic noise, and Vita’s richly ethereal voice work wonderfully. The lyrics are fine enough also. They aren’t particularly notable on the whole across the album because of their excellence or because of their stupidity. And strangeness I must attribute to the fact that English is not the band’s first language by a long shot.
Like an escapee from the Trainspotting soundtrack, Above Below Around reminds me very much of the Underworld thump-thump of song Born Slippy. But whereas that song never gives up, Above Below Around eventually just gets weak and turns into something more of a new age song than a dance or gothic metal offering. Its fine enough, but I do believe that there are better offerings.
Once it gets going, Fairy Child is a good song. It takes over a minute to do much of anything…but when it does I’m impressed by the heavy drums and guitars mixed with the orchestral arrangement and Vita’s pure voice. There’s no question she has talent, but I do believe she could use some direction. Get Away on the other hand is a confusing piece. It is without question a hard rock song. And considering it’s mashed between rich, layered, and theatrical electronica pieces it is absolutely not fitted to the setting. But I think the reason it is here because Vita’s voice is particularly Bjork-like. Just with the addition of rock elements. Even funnier is that one of her band mates sounds a little like the guttural Einar Orn Benediktsson (who was part of the Sugarcubes with Bjork) on sporatic backing vocals.
Once again The Dreamside sounds very, very new age on the distinctly international (maybe Celtic even) themed Symbol. I appreciate the slight change of pace without moving too much away from Mirror Moon’s general feel. La Tempesta is hard and electronic and smacks a bit of 80’s metal but with that said I do indeed enjoy the song for the lovely melody. Also lovely is Vita’s breathy, rich voice. I find it a bit difficult as I do indeed have to view her as more an instrument than a vocalist since she isn’t speaking English but I of course can’t fault her for that.
Wonders is a bit too slow for its own good. In fact, I find the song blends too well into the background. I lose my interest exceedingly quickly. However, Eurylheia is a lovely acoustic change of pace. And when the light, more consciously melodic kind of music is blended with Vita’s vocals the overall sound reminds me of something directly out of a fantasy film. Really, this is one of the best offerings of the disc.
Wrapping things up, Forever And A Day is a thumping, pulsing, beating song. It’s not great, but it is entertaining none the less. And I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: sometimes you just want to be entertained without being challenged. Of course I must also admit that I’m more than slightly disturbed by the old fashioned keyboard-dance noises. They seem dated for a 2001 album. Finally, there is Fallen Angel. It’s not a great song, but whatever. I’ll deal.
The Dreamside boasts a lineup of Kemi Vita on vocals, Cees Viset on guitar, Fried Bruggink on guitar, Roman Schonsee on bass, and finally Sebastian Brauchle on drums. And while I don’t love Mirror Moon I must also admit that there are worse sentences in the world. I’m moderately impressed by the disc, especially considering my pre-listening thoughts about it. I’m no longer at all frightened by The Dreamside—rather I find myself a bit entertained.
Rating: 3.5/5 (rounded to 3 to discourage casual listers)
Track Listing:
1. Mirror Moon
2. Above Below Around
3. Fairy Child
4. Get Away
5. Symbol
6. La Tempesta
7. Wonders
8. Eurylheia
9. Forever and A Day
10. Fallen Angel
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
lambchops
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Member: Shelly T.
Location: Metro Detroit, Michigan
Reviews written: 1172
Trusted by: 841 members
About Me:
Bye-bye CL hat. Hopefully I'll write some new reviews some time soon!
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