Dreariness
Before We Vanish

Before We Vanish says the Italian band Dreariness from Rome, can it be a reflection on how human existence is bound to fail and we will soon be extinct due to our own stupidity? It might be reflecting on the short lifespan of a human being and how little we do during that lifespan. Or it may be some hedgehog thing, or something. I don’t really bother with the concepts anyway, but the title is fun – and the band name as well.

I read post-metal or blackgaze in the press sheet, and that is probably a good way to describe the music of the band. The vocals are screamy for the most part, while the music is atmospheric and dreamy, and I don’t think the vocals and instrumentation harmonise particularly well. When we get clean female vocals it is immediately a lot better, the music itself is exciting and interesting as well while the screaming/growly vocals are really bad. And the playing time is long with almost one hour required to get through all six of the tracks on the album, that is way too much for an album of this character.

It is not really an album that excites me, it has some positive aspects but in general I don’t find it a very interesting album to listen to. Sure, the dreamy style of black metal is interesting and good, but they ruin it with the vocal style that doesn’t fit. When they go with clean female vocals it is fine, but that is far from often enough on this album and I find it to be a fairly unappealing album in the end. Not terrible or anything, just not exciting or interesting enough to grab my attention.

If you are into the blackgaze or something like that, it might be an album that suits you. But I think the audience for this album is quite small, not much about Before We Vanish appeals to me. Still, there are always those who see it differently and if you like the similar bands you might find this one interesting as well, for me there are some good moments but not more than that. I keep thinking that it should have been better, that the dreamy soundscape could have been used better, things like that. In the end I find that deleting the music files probably is the most satisfying aspect of the album – Dreariness is a fitting name.

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