BURIED DREAMS

    Necrosphere

   - 8 -

Mexico... They bring us many things: Cinco De Mayo, the Siesta, tacos, the Aztecs, several US States, and lately a lot of good Metal.  As the Gothenburg era fades, it looks more and more like Metal supremacy is, at least in this writer's opinion, being ceded to France and our friendly neighbor to the South.  In case that was too subtle, BURIED DREAMS hail from Mexico, and I can immediately find analogies to bands like CENOTAPH and DIES IRAE.  This is some good solid Metal which builds on a foundation of melody and injects it with about five billion cc's of testosterone, leaving the listener with smoking ears and a pounding heart.

The album begins with a very cool and eerie intro, somewhat native American, somewhat gothic, and highly effective.  From there, like a catapult they launch you into a fury of absolutely shredding guitars at speeds extreme for even a genre such as Thrash, though they never forget that harmonics and melody were the basis for their music, and like to slip in little interludes that, like any good roller coaster, make you think it's over, only to drop you in again for the torture.  I think the vocals leave something to be desired, though in the context of the music they are all right, just a bit too shrill and you could almost use the word 'vomited' to describe them.  Comparisons immediately arise with CENOTAPH on that one.

BURIED DREAMS have a lot more going for them, I believe than the aforementioned band.  They have mastered both dual guitar leads and flashy time changes, two things which impressed me even on the first spin.  They know how to be both melodic and aggressive, and they know how to insert more hooks in their music than the average bait and tackle shop.  Their music is dark, and never loses that balls-to-the-wall feeling you get on the first track, right up to their ending track with the same sounds as the intro and a fading and slowly winding down guitar solo.

On one sour note, I was not a fan of the production, it sounded flat and the guitars were a bit grating at points, though most of the time they were moving so fast it's hard to notice.  However, when the band tries to slow down and do something a bit more melodic than aggressive it generally detracts from the experience, at least in my opinion.  Though it really is only one dark spot on what is otherwise a solid album, one which makes place BURIED DREAMS in the upper echelons of post-Gothenberg Metal for now, and especially if they keep putting out albums like this.

I am impressed and I wait to see what these guys do next.  I have no choice but to recommend this, whether you're pissed off and angry at the world, or looking for something intense.  Ole'!
 

Editor's rating:   7

Contributed by Matt Gold

  Back To Index