Dream Death was one of those bands that didn’t fit neatly into any particular metal scene or sub-genre. Even in the less rigidly subdivided metal landscape of the late 1980s, Dream Death was a square peg. The band was too slow and dark for thrash, not quite extreme enough for death metal, and a little too extreme for doom. Consequently, the group spent its brief career toiling in obscurity. The band released one LP, 1987’s Journey Into Mystery, before putting Dream Death to sleep and forming the more traditional doom act Penance in 1989.
Nonetheless, the group’s potent mix of Black Sabbath’s wall of sound and Celtic Frost’s barbaric aggression did not go entirely unnoticed or unappreciated. In fact, none other than the legendary Cathedral had Dream Death drummer Mike Smail man the kit on its 1991 debut, Forest of Equilibrium. As is sadly the case with so many good bands, Dream Death received more acclaim posthumously than it ever enjoyed as an active band, and as a result of this continued reverence for its work, Dream Death has been brought back from the dead. Twenty five years after its debut, the band offers its sophomore release: Somnium Excessum.
The album’s opening track “Feast” seems to pick up right where Journey into Mystery left off: The track alternately limps and gallops along on the thick, blocky riffs that are quintessentially Dream Death, while Brian Lawrence barks out a tale of undead horror. A closer listen, however, reveals a few new wrinkles in the Dream Death sound. First there is a persistent low frequency throbbing that the trained ear might recognize as bass guitar. Original Dream Death bassist Ted Williams pretty much got the shaft on the inexpertly produced Journey Into Mystery, so Somnium Excessum essentially marks the first bass guitar on a Dream Death record. Somnium Excessum also marks the recording debut of “new” bassist Richard Freund. (Freund joined Dream Death in the late Eighties, and did not appear on the band’s debut.) The mix puts Freund’s massive tone on near-equal footing with the guitars, and he makes the most of it, with a commanding, dynamic performance that truly adds another dimension to the band’s sound. The second new wrinkle to appear in “Feast” is the off-kilter melody that emerges around 2:40. Weaving about like a drunken sailor, this riff is a subtle indication that Dream Death is willing to get a little weird.
On track two, “Them”, the new Dream Death comes into full bloom. The song starts with a simple but sinister melody built from Richard Freund’s rumbling bass and a few notes of clean guitar. Over this figure Brian Lawrence weaves a paranoid spoken-word tale about mysterious unwanted house guests. Lawrence’s paranoia reaches a fever-pitch when he bellows “THEY ARE HERE!” The band then drops an A-bomb of a riff, and paranoia becomes full-fledged panic. This passage illustrates a new-found affinity for dynamics and theatrics that makes Somnium Excessum a much more diverse listening experience than its predecessor. This section also showcases Brian Lawrence’s much improved vocals. Lawrence’s modus operandi on Journey Into Mystery was to yell threateningly into the mic, and any melody that resulted was almost certainly accidental. 25 year later, his approach has not really changed, but maturity has given his voice more depth and power, resulting in an altogether more menacing performance.
Around four minutes into “Them”, things get weird again, in a wonderful way. The guitars drop out, and from the midst of Mike Smail’s rolling beat Freund’s bass emerges, like a leviathan from the deep, bellowing out a two-note melody. In another context, the groove thus created might be considered funky, but when the guitars kick back in with a maniacal refrain of squealing dissonance, Fruend’s melody takes an ugly turn, and the resulting musical madness owes more to H.P. Lovecraft than to Bootsy Collins. It is passages like this that reveal Dream Death’s newfound willingness to go out on a musical limb. Journey into Mystery was pretty much a “riff, riff, riff” affair, but Somnium Excessum is more sonically and compositionally adventurous.
Adventure is not without risk, and Dream Death makes a few missteps on the album, but they are mostly minor: an awkward riff or transition here or there, and a somewhat bloated (but still pretty awesome) closer in “From Inside the Walls”. Fans will be comforted to know that whatever musical detours the band takes, crushing riffs are always right around the corner.
With Somnium Excessum, Dream Death has accomplished the near impossible task of crafting an album that stays true to the band’s established style while exhibiting dramatic creative growth. There have been a lot of comeback albums over the past decade or so, and while some have been very good, few have sounded as vital as Somnium Excessum. Dream Death, it seems, did not just get back together for old time’s sake — the group reformed because it actually had something to say. Hopefully it doesn’t take another twenty-five years for the group to say something else.
