Last Updated on 01:14 AM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Heavy Metal/Doom
Country: Sweden
Label: Cruz del Sur Music
Year: 2016
If the Swedes know one thing as a nation, that is to write good music. And more often than not, music that is based in feeling. Whatever feeling that might be. Quicksand Dream are not an exception to this rule that might sound very general, but is rather true. I guess the majority of you don’t even know their name. Their story begins in 1993 with the change of their name from Epic Irae (after 3 demos) and a split with Left Hand Solution / Unholy / Celeborn / Toxic Waste entitled “Metal North”. The next important stop is at 2000 since their debut “Alien – A Story About Destiny” was released in a few cdr’. And so we reach 2016 with Mortalicum having Patrick Backlund (bass-guitars) and Henrik Högl (drums), while the line up is completed with the excelent singer and driving force of the band, Göran Jacobson. I may not have heard neither their split, nor their debut album, but I can observe the years they were released. 1993 and 2000 were both bad years for traditional Heavy Metal/Doom, but now the timing is right for such attempts since the public seems to be interested again for albums like “Beheading Tyrants” that stand in such great level. Atlantean Codex are not just a cult German band anymore. The latest Eternal Champion and Sumerlands records are making a huge buzz and the heir of the throne of doom is being talked about by more and more people and not only by the stubborn and the forgotten. In the 6 songs “Beheading Tyrants” has, you will find high quality doom themes, with good doses of haunted melodies. There are also some Slough Feg elements here and there, as also from Lord Vicar and Solstice. The 70’s protometal aesthetics is not missing either, reminiscent of Hammers of Misfortune. Even though the cover does not bring you in the mood for such epicness, Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road have played a great role in building Quicksand Dream’s sound. The clean vocals that remind Pentagram at times are a very strong attribute and the guitars do not exaggerate in any moment, they are filled with emotion until the last moment (listen to the almost Bathory-like epic closing of “To Kill Beneath the Sun”).
4,5/6