Album Review: Amidst Dreams of Tomorrow – Memories of a Wandering Soul
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
Memories Of A Wandering Soul is the debut album from Amidst Dreams Of Tomorrow who are an international project featuring three members who are based in Ireland and the UK. The album follows the band's debut E.P. Beached Things (released in 2021) and Memories Of A Wandering Soul is described as a mix of styles such as black metal, post-rock, doom and others, to create a unique soundscape and journey for the listener.
The album tells the story of someone that got lost in their own memories being forced to relive them. With the album being instrumental it is down to the music to tell the story. Musically there is definitely a key influence from black and doom metal with post-rock moments but also a very symphonic air about it with a heavy use of keyboards. There are songs such as Desolation which features some blackened riffing mixed with ethereal keyboards but does switch to a darker more discordant sound later on in the song and also ones like Journey Under The Moonlight and Sorrow Of The Humbled which are the most delicate sounding pieces on the album with the use of acoustic guitars and strings.
The highlights for me were New Horizons which is the most doomladen song on the album reminiscent of bands such as My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost with a doomy yet very gothic feel to the music and the title track which has a mournful and melancholic melody running through it mixed with black metal ferocity and pummelling drums. Unfortunately they are the only parts of the album that really stood out to me.
Memories Of A Wandering Soul is tricky as it has a dark atmosphere that is befitting to the theme of the music but the pieces of music themselves are rather bland (apart from the two previously mentioned highlights) and feel way too drawn out for their own good. Instrumental albums have to be engaging as the instrument of voice is absent but the first two thirds of the album just fall flat either being dragged out too long such as on Crestfallen or are just completely unengaging such as the gentler pieces like Sorrow Of The Humbled. When the album does finally meet its potential during the latter part it is already too late and my interest had really deteriorated which is a shame as New Horizons and the title track are really good. Had the rest of the album met the standards of those two songs then this review would read very differently. Unfortunately this is a frustratingly underwhelming album.
