Album review: Dreamwake – The Lost Years

Dreamwake’s idea of a greeting at the top of their second album is the sound of a burbling synth, which a saxophone proceeds to weave itself around. This song is called Stargazer, and its space-age introduction makes that unsurprising. It’s promising. They’re telling us that they’re something different. It’s not a hollow statement by any means – the Connecticut metallers put in an admirable effort into crafting something individual, but here, they prove instead that individuality doesn’t exempt any band from imperfection.

It's not shabby, and there’s enough to nod at in appreciation. Daydream’s dancing fretwork and retro splashes of synth have a refreshingly bright, skyward-looking tone to them, while Dark Eternal plunges quickly from the light to the dark with some proper moments of viciousness. Its melodies aren’t generally the most memorable, but Afterglow shoots for a huge chorus and sticks the landing as it quickly shifts from soft to heavy. Later, White Noise offers a more delicate moment of departure from its usual textures, but by the three-quarters mark, that sense of variation has become sorely needed.

Despite seeming enticing from the outset, The Lost Years eventually begins to feel like a slog. It makes its point yet carries on pontificating, clocking in at just under an hour in a way that fails to really justify itself. While its guitar-based acrobatics are clever and easy to appreciate, the chunkier riffs aren’t especially distinct either, and there’s only so much heavy lifting the more novel elements of their sound can do. As the ear fatigue sets in, the layers of riffs and synth and saxophone have built up like sediment and it’s harder to cherish the ideas that glint through – closer Heatwave, for example, feels like the point where Dreamwake punch hardest but it’s less easy to enjoy when weary from everything that has come before.

Of course, it’s far better than settling for boilerplate sounds, and they’re hardly lacking in creativity, but some more finesse wouldn’t go amiss.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Monuments, The Midnight, Northlane

The Lost Years is released August 8 via UNFD