Dead as Dreams - Their Steps Become Unbearable [Goatowarex - 2010]This is a Black Metal band from San Francisco (of all places.) This rather short CD is their only release as far as I know, with all the usual BM packaging and some writing I can't really make out. Now there used to be a time when this style of music earned sensationalist headlines, particularly in Norway where it got started. Of course, having read Lords of Chaos I'm pretty knowledgeable about it, although not being a huge fan. However that was decades ago and ever since there's been a glut of bands in greasepaint trying to sound and act as evil as possible. Like gangsta rap, it's simply become a mainstream (well almost) genre that once had menace but is now rather toothless and quaint for the most part. With a few exceptions, of course. But onto the CD, which only has one 25 minute track. I don't think this is a bad record for metal. There is some quite gripping guitar work and even some pretty acoustic guitar works its way in, which is nice. But nothing really separates this from most of the pack. Methinks they should start listening to Corrupted and come up with something more fresh instead of the usual guitar pick-melting material. Would've liked also to know what the lyrics are about but, of course, this is Black Metal so everyone would know what to expect in that area. So I'm giving this release a nice three stars. This is something I'm sure all the Black Metal-heads would like and I wouldn't judge its merits in that regard. I just don't expect that anyone on the outside will find it brilliant.
Lawrence J. Patti
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