Dreamscape
End Of Silence

An underrated progressive metal band, especially for the determination with which it plays its genre. That's how I would define the German band Dreamscape. The characteristics of progressive metal are well-known to those familiar with these territories, but it's clear that not everyone puts in the same power.

Dreamscape manage to combine power and melody in the clearest possible way, but this has never brought them the renown they would have deserved. They're never mentioned in the prog-metal pantheon, yet they deserve some attention.

Their guitars have the right power, sounding as sharp as Chef Tony's blades, dark and gloomy at optimal levels without ever making the band's sound seriously dark, leaving their sound with a decidedly melodic setting on fairly luminous tones. Well-defined guitars even in the solos.

Just as the keyboards, which always sound very clear, with bright and clean sounds that create the right atmosphere, but which know how to become harsh and distorted in solo phases. All without ever overshadowing the work of the guitar.

"End Of Silence", from 2004, is probably their most solid work out of the four created so far. The aforementioned characteristics are all present and expressed in the best way. The band had two albums under their belt; "Trance-Like State" (1997), good but still not very determined, and "Very", with a more mature vocalist and already describable as a small masterpiece in which the band had already found the right path; but with this "End Of Silence", they make that quality leap and confirm the maturity of the band achieved with the previous one, with even more convincing results. New change of singer and track lengths that willingly exceed 7 minutes for 72 minutes of excellent prog-metal.

Among the highlights of the album stands out the suite "The End Of Light", which with its 20 minutes and its continuously evolving structure between more moderate and more edgy moments, could somehow remind of a certain "A Change Of Seasons" (listening to how it evolves after a few listens, it really seems to be inspired by it); some say the suite is unjustly placed as track no. 3, but the choice doesn’t seem particularly unfortunate. Notable tracks also include the sharp "Flow" with its frenetic rhythms, the ballad "All I Need" that perfectly frames the band's more melodic side, the closing track "You Don't Know Me" with its beautiful instrumental interplays. But it's the entire album that maintains consistently high levels without ever experiencing significant drops. Perhaps it could be considered a small flaw for its somewhat repetitive sound on initial listens, and it might give a bit more space to softer moments, but I don't think these are significant flaws affecting the final judgment.

Dreamscape will do just as well with the subsequent "5th Season", with the same singer and on the same line as this, with the same determination; then the disbanding of the band, with many members leaving (two of them are now in Subsignal); rumors had it that the band had found a new lineup and a new singer and was ready to release a new album titled "Everlight", which I hope will one day see the light, but it's pretty old news (around the end of 2009) with nothing more following.

I hope it won't be like that, the band deserves to move forward. In the meantime, I enjoy what they've done, which is excellent, and I recommend everyone to listen particularly to this "End Of Silence", a dark gem of progressive metal that I hope will be re-evaluated!