Another day, another Asguard…except this is a completely different band (and spelling to boot).  Dreamslave is the second album from death/black metal band hailing out of Belarus.  It’s a crisp, very melodic album, featuring symphonic elements and a dash of industrial goth.  It also came out in 2005, which explains why I have it: 2005 was the year I got back into extreme metal, and I was basically trying anything that got a halfway decent review in Decibel or Terrorizer at that point, not having any streaming options.

And once again I wrote about this a short while ago for Nine Circles as part of my Binder of Forgotten Metal series.  Essentially, I put a ton of CDs into binders in order to save some space on my shelves.  As streaming and digital purchasing became more prevalent, a lot of this music gathered dust in those binders, so I did a series where I brought them back out dusted them off, and gave them a quick review (hmmm, sound familiar?).  Anyway, here is the entry on Dreamslave:

You got your symphonic black metal in my industrial/gothic hybrid death metal!  What’s a boy to do?  I have no idea what prompted the purchase of this…maybe it was a good review in Decibel?  I’m surprised actually at how much I’m digging the tunes, triggered drums aside.  There’s some interesting folk elements, and the mash-up of industrial and goth with the more symphonic parts don’t feel nearly as corny as I suspected.  There’s a neoclassical vibe to everything (the album is separated by movements) that’s impressive in its ambition, something I guess carried over into their next album Dreamslave…Awakening so maybe there’s a whole thematic thing going on?  I don’t know, but there’s enough fun on the original 2005 Dreamslave to keep me entertained.  

Verdict:  I’m feeling generous, and the symphonic black elements tickle me, so I think I can find a place for this on the proper shelves.

Nothing’s changed listening to it again this morning, and in fact I’m a little more drawn to how clear everything sounds, so maybe it’s time to think about checking out the follow up sometime, huh?