Consuming the Tangible

From November 8, 2024

Well, THIS was a left turn I didn’t see coming. Anyone who checked out 2020’s Hypnagogic Hallucinations from Italy’s Bedsore were aware of the subtle shades of prog and psychedelia coloring the band’s death metal, but that’s all they were: shades. It was more than enough to not only get me to pick up the vinyl, but add them to my favorite albums of 2020. And here we are four years later with Dreaming The Strife For Love, and those shades of prog and psychedelia have completely washed over the death metal. Not enough to make it unrecognizable, but enough that we have to question how to classify Bedsore moving forward. What’s not a question is the quality: for this particular prog-nerd it’s a stunning late-year release that in the few weeks I’ve been listening has me struggling to find out exactly where it needs to sit on this year’s list.

Read the rest over at Nine Circles.

It’s been a while since I’ve listened to Dreaming…, but as “Scars of Light” plays in my head as I prep this post, I’m instantly transported back to why this was such an important listen for me. I was slowly getting more and more into progressive rock, and the way the band expertly weaves those traditional elements in – the thick keyboards, the orchestrated passages – into some terrific technical death metal was just one of many bridges that expanded my palate for more experimental work.