Dreaming The Strife For Love

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8.0

• Bands:
  BEDSORE
• Duration: 00:45:57
• Available from: 11/29/2024
• Label:

• 20 Buck Spins

Streaming not yet available

With the new “Dreaming The Strife For Love”, Bedsore courageously shuffle the cards of their progressive (death) metal, venturing into a sonic terrain where dreams and melancholy merge in a particularly sophisticated narrative. From the first notes, it is evident that the Roman quartet has made a leap forward compared to the already complex and acclaimed “Hypnagogic Hallucinations” and the split with Mortal Incarnation: if in the 2020 debut and in the suite “Shapes from Beyond the Veil of Stars and Space” the band explored psychedelic and atmospheric death metal, now we find ourselves faced with a work that makes its Seventies prog nature a central pillar, enveloping the listener in a journey that recalls the surreal scenarios of the Renaissance novel Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which Bedsore are explicitly inspired by.
The concept of “Dreaming The Strife For Love” takes shape as an allegorical journey into the depths of desire and abandonment, transforming love into a path full of challenges, populated by visions of pagan temples, enchanted gardens and arcane symbols. The prog influences, which previously only colored the atmosphere, now become flesh and blood of the composition, expressing the refined character of the album and creating a sound space that recalls both the visions of Goblin and the atmospheres of contemporary death metal bands such as Morbus Chron /Sweven and Venenum.
The first few words are enough to understand that what is proposed is a majestic and structured work, which requires to be explored over and over again in order to fully grasp its complexity. The arrangements are lush and at times sumptuous, with the synths, the mellotron and the organ which not only add depth to the structure of the songs, but often take the lead, replacing the guitar as the driving instrument and in the melodic setting, thus opening up new sound dimensions for the group.
This choice further amplifies the seventies prog imprint of the album and, with it, its nostalgic mood: Bedsore's choice to make these instruments central elements in the narrative leads to the creation of soundscapes that are all in all new for the project, in which the The keyboard element provides an almost constant contribution, overturning the foundations and rules of what until today, beyond the copious external influences, could still be considered a death metal proposal.
Today the quartet, rather than using the avant-garde component as a decorative superstructure with respect to the metal matrix, instead proceeds in a different, if not actually opposite, direction, inserting abrasive elements as counterpoints of tension in a progressive fabric, thus creating an authentic synthesis and not just a juxtaposition between genres.
In a context of further sound stratification, “Dreaming…” therefore preserves the death metal roots of the group, however the riffs and the extreme component in general are often given a supporting role in the fabric of the album, appearing and disappearing as a shadow to the inside a forest full of sounds. Death metal is a constant presence here, but less amplified than in the past; it emerges almost like an echo, a blurry memory that finds its place within the narrative rather than imposing itself as the gravitational center of the record. The influences of groups such as Morbus Chron themselves or the latest Obliteration are still perceptible, but this time reinterpreted within an even more airy style, at times vaguely opethianwith a fluidity that prevents the sound from becoming too heavy and dark.
Finally, the decision to sing in Italian adds an intimate and almost esoteric component to the album, making everything even more personal: the mother tongue seems to give new expressive strength to Jacopo Gianmaria Pepe, whose painful and scratchy voice adapts perfectly to the changing atmospheres of the the work, transforming itself into a narrative tool in all respects. The words evoke images that range from the arcane to the fantastic, adding a poetic patina and giving life to an imagery that mixes a certain tragic nature of the feeling of love with a sense of discovery and spiritual abandonment.
Said of a spacious and enveloping production, which best highlights the rich arrangements, making the songs narrative vignettes that continually oscillate between horror and wonder, between solemnity and restlessness, “Dreaming The Strife For Love” is an album that places Bedsore in a new dimension, much more theatrical and visual. We are faced with a work that demonstrates how much can be achieved when inspiration and artistic intuition meet technique and an interesting concept, giving a glimpse of a more than promising future for this courageous group, constantly evolving and at the same time always exquisitely concrete .