R E V I E W S

Dream Or Nightmare - Light Burning Bright Til The Dawn – 2004 - Independent

Track Listing
1. Lost Wish
2. Self Inflicted Gunshot Wound To The Head
3. Tomorrow Aside
4. Conflicting Addiction
Dream or Nightmare? That is the million dollar question that requires an answer.

Founded by guitarist Joe Sims in 1999, this USA based group consists of Joe Sims-Lead Guitars, Jim Arnold-Lead Guitars and Keyboards, Russ Kirk-Drums, and Dave Rhynard-Lead Vocals and 12-string. Yes guys and gals, count em, three guitars.

The Dream or Nightmare camp believes in the metal without the boundaries that place a band in the genre jail. Well, they tried. Basically, all this sounds like is the same gothic music that has become the cliché for the time. Also, don’t be fooled by the 4 track moniker on the back cover. There are actually 13 tracks on this. 4 are just blank and four are just noise. I can’t say I’d blame them though; I wouldn’t put tracks that are just full of crap on my track listing either. Yes, they have a predominate use of a downtuned piano sound, and the vocals are simply mediocre at best, musically, all is not lost on this release. The guitar arrangements do kick some major ass! Showcased on the first four tracks as well as the last hidden track, they are the only things that make this album bearable. The one and only notable track is “Self Inflicted Gunshot Wound to the Head”, the vocals finally hit dead on, and it doesn’t sound like your standard Goth. In short, for a band that tried to do something completely unique, they failed miserably. Thanks to the work of Joe Sims, the have the heaviness and thus, the necessary groundwork to be great.

My vote is Nightmare. What the band tried was a great concept and looked good on paper, but this release does a massive belly flop in the pool of heavy metal.

Personal Rating: Mama always said if I don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.



--Iced Mojo 6.13.06

Maximum Metal Rating Legend - Full Details
5 Excellent - Buy it and say a prayer to the metal gods that you were tuned on to this masterpiece. A classic.
4-4.5 Great - Almost perfect records but there's probably a clunker or a lacking somewhere to keep it from perfection. You won't feel bad about dropping some bones on these.
3.5 Good - Most of the record is good, but there may be some filler. This is the OK range where you'd search for the record on sale or used.
3 Average - Some good songs, some bad ones at about a half/half ratio. Could show skills but be dull overall. Redeeming qualities for indy bands are effort and passion. Majors that don't try or suck outright end up here.
2-2.5 Fair - Worth a listen, but best obtained by collectors. There is much better metal out there.
1-1.5 Bad - Major problems with music, lyrics, production, etc.
0 Terrible or an otherwise waste of your life and time.

Note: Reviews are graded from 0-5, anything higher or not showing is from our old style. Scores, however, do not reveal the important features. The written review that accompanies the ratings is the best source of information regarding the music on our site. Reviewing is opinionated, not a qualitative science, so scores are personal to the reviewer and could reflect anything from being technically brilliant to gloriously cheesy fun.

The best way to determine how much you may like certain music is to listen to it yourself.

Demos and independent releases get some slack since the bands are often spent broke supporting themselves and trying to improve. Major releases usually have big financial backing, so they may be judged by a heavier hand. All scores can be eventually adjusted up or down by comparison of subsequent releases by the same band. We attempt to keep biases out of reviews and be advocates of the consumer without the undo influence of any band, label, management, promoter, etc.


All reviews for this band:
CD
 TITLE BAND
DOR
 REVIEWER DATE
Light Burning Bright Til The DawnDream Or Nightmare
2004
IcedMojo7/20/2006


Interviews found from this band:
INTERVIEW BAND INTERVIEWER DATE


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