Dead Or Dreaming - Into Eternity (album review)
Posted on: March 31, 2009, at 09:59:09pm

This will be the first of four album reviews done in chronological order. All four albums were produced by my favorite metal band (and possibly favorite band) Into Eternity. They're a Canadian Melodic Death/Progressive Death metal band that makes an amazing fusion of both aggressiveness, growling, clean vocals, harmonizing vocals, and distorted and clear instrumentation.

Dead or Dreaming (2001)

Members of the band when released:
Tim Roth
Daniel Nargang
Scott Krall
Jim Austin
Chris McDougall

Track list (all songs are on YouTube, Pandora, and Playlist):
Absolution of the Soul
Distant Pale Future
Shallow
Unholy (Fields of the Dead)
Elysium Dream
Selling God
Imagination Overdose
Dead or Dreaming
Cyber Messiah
Identify

Individual track review (I'll be writing this as I listen to each song):

1) Absolution of the Soul (3.5/5):
Starts of with a partially dissonant riff and bass line before progressing to some harmonized vocals with sporadic clean guitar and synthetic riffs tossed in before the death vocals begin. The real thing to listen to in this song is the guitar going on behind the noise and the clean vocals and the guitar solo. The death vocals are nothing special in the song, but it's a decent introduction to the album.

2) Distant Pale Future (4/5):
This song begins with a bass line similar to that in "I'm So Sick" and then both guitars enter and do the same riff. Then, more harmonized and pleasant vocals enter before a strange bass line + death vocal rap section begins that I find very intriguing. This song has a central theme of self reflection as you can tell by the emphasis on "look into the mirror" throughout the song. The solo in this song is a bit odd, but still good and doesn't overstay its welcome. The best thing about this song though is probably the strange death vocal rap simply because of how unique it is which is followed closely by the outro.

3) Shallow (4/5):
This is the first song on the album to not begin with bass and instead enter with clean guitar followed by a drum fill and then the first heavy riff of the song. Once the clean vocals enter the guitars begin to play gallops in time with the drums. The death vocals are in the background for the most part in this song with the clean vocals taking a definite lead. There are also many different small portions of this song that change in tempo, key, and style. It's one of their songs in which you can clearly see their progressive side. The solo in this song manages to show off Tim's guitar skill while remaining both tasteful and emotional. This song is just an all around good song, but with no real parts of it standing out above the rest.

4) Unholy (Fields of the Dead) (5/5):
This song begins with the chorus... which I may have to note... is positively orgasmic. There's just something amazing in the vocals in this song and the way in which they are complemented by the instruments. Chris takes a huge lead in this song with the vocals standing out and making this song easily the best on the album and one of my all time favorite songs after only a few listens. The solo in this song alternates between both lead guitars without making any drastic changes and manages to end right as you start wishing for the chorus again.

5) Elysium Dream (4/5):
This song wins the "Most cool/deep title for a song in the album award". It begins with an interesting clean electric intro that progresses to a semi-heavy riff with the drums playing a blast beat in the background. The vocals in the song seem to take deference to the guitar and drums, but at the same time have another interesting melody carried throughout the song. If you haven't guessed by now harmonized vocals were Into Eternity's thing back in the day. When this album was released every single member of the band was able to be a back up singer in some way. The drummer did growls, the second guitarist did clean vocal harmonies, etc. Another simply good song with nothing truly standing out in it. No real guitar solo in this song right until the ending 40 seconds. It makes for a pleasant little outro.

6) Selling God (4/5):
As the title might suggest, this song begins with chapel bells ringing darkly. This morbid silence is quickly shattered by a chorus of death growls and screams. This is the first song on the album in which they take real precedence. They're certainly the highlight of the song. This is probably THE song on the album that'd really get you pumped up or head banging. When the clean vocals do come in you'll probably notice that the background vocals are much more interesting than the lead. And at about 20 seconds before the end of the song you are treated to a drastic change as another chorus of growls erupts, but is quickly interrupted by a responding chorus of female voices. A very interesting outro probably meant to contrast angels and demons.

7) Imagination Overdose (4/5):
This song begins with a rhythmic guitar riff and drum beat that continues on after the vocals come in. This song probably has the most unique vocals on the album as they are all slightly different from the past songs and the harmonies split multiple times throughout the song. The drums still remain in the forefront of the song even when the guitar solo comes in which is a strange choice that works for the song. You may notice if you listen to the album that almost all of these songs would make an excellent soundtrack for the game Ultimate DOOM. Or that might just be me. The outro is the only part of the song that really features much of the band's death vocals. Nothing really special in this song once more with nothing that really stands out.

8) Dead or Dreaming (5/5):
Hey look it's the title song! The intro begins very aggressively with a fast tempo and cymbols and strings being smashed all over the place. When the vocals enter you'll again notice subtle differences from the rest of the songs. Also, if you really listen to the song then you'll be able to hear all of the subtle and intricate things going on behind the vocals and rhythm guitar. It's these subtleties that really make this song stand out and deserve its place as the title song. That and the few style changes made throughout the song including the sudden change to a softer sound focusing much more on the vocals, guitar, and melody. And all of that pretty little section followed by a few death growls and more aggressive guitar.

9) Cyber Messiah (4.5/5):
This song begins with an array of odd sound effects followed by a bass line and similar guitar riff and once again makes me think of DOOM. It just sounds vaguely futuristic. This is another song with vocals featuring primarily death growls until the chorus. The guitar work throughout the song seems to stand out in the album with the vocals also doing so and complementing the guitar well.

10) Identify (4/5):
Yet another song that begins with a focus on bass. This is probably one of the more aggressive songs on the album and again features death growls. The screams are even given a highlight early in the song. When the clean vocals come in the style of the song also changes meshing the multiple styles of rock and metal embodied by Into Eternity. You can easily guess the meaning of the lyrics of the song if you simply think about identifying yourself. Oh, and yeah, a good guitar solo that sounds like it was intended to show off Tim's chops some more before switching to the more emotional, but still technical parts of the solo. Right before the real outro there's an amazing little highlight on the screams that combines both a crescendo of synth and screams into a long held scream and guitar riff that whispers a pleasant goodbye to a good album. A good ending song.

This album, Dead or Dreaming is comprised of good songs overall, but never does it falter, but at the same time it only has a few stand out songs, but with the inclusion of Unholy (Fields of the Dead) it can easily be bumped up to a 4.5/5 stars in my eyes. Thanks for reading, and even more thanks to those who care enough to listen to the actual album. Now get to posting comments down below this monster.