Man I really want to like Dreaming Dead, but something about them just never seems to mesh correctly with me. That's a partially unfair statement because prior to this album I was only familiar with their debut, but it was a total in-one-ear-and-out-the-other album and their long awaited return in 2017 with Funeral Twilight doesn't do much to convince me that I was unfair about them early on. All of the elements for a badass record are here but nothing seems to coalesce into something genuinely riveting. There are a lot of high octane melodic death/thrash riffs absolutely boiling over with venom, but nothing sticks. It's sad because I don't really know what else to say about them. It's certainly not for a lack of talent, since the band has a great ear for subtle melody and can make hyperspeed Kreator-style thrash riffs sound completely effortless to play, and Schall's rasp is one of the better Symbolic-era Schuldiner impressions out there, but it's all a blast of sound and fury that ultimately signifies nothing. This is the problem with a lot of death/thrash in general, honestly. You'll get behemoth exceptions like Deathchain and The Crown in their primes, but in general Funeral Twilight is indicative of the overwhelming serviceable mediocrity that plagues the genre. There's nothing inherently wrong with these blistering riffs and frantic pace, but it's wholly lacking a sense of real danger to give it that extra oomph. The hooks are few and far between, there's a startling dearth of memorable lines, and after several spins I still can't remember much of anything that happens. "Beyond the Black Moon" has some cool bass tricks going on in the background and "Remnants of a Time Long Forgotten" is a neat change of pace with it's doomy instrumentals, but otherwise there isn't much else to point out. Despite all the flash and frenzy, there just isn't anything exciting here.
RATING - 48%
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