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A Dream Of Poe - The Mirror Of Deliverance review




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Reviewer:
8.1

25 users:
7.56
Band: A Dream Of Poe
Album: The Mirror Of Deliverance
Style: Doom metal, Gothic metal
Release date: February 2011


01. Neophyte
02. Os Vultos
03. Lady Of Shalott
04. Liber XLIX
05. The Lost King Of The Lyre
06. Chrysopoeia

The Mirror Of Deliverance is the first full-length release by the doom ensemble A Dream Of Poe from the beautiful green islands of Azores. After two quite good EPs the first full album is not disappointing either, being a fine showcase of the style of the two Azorean bands including this one and also In Peccatum with Bruno Santos contributing to both bands.

The overall atmosphere of the album is something that the fans of My Dying Bride would be pleased to hear. Especially those whose favourite song is "My Wine In Silence". Although compared to the aforementioned group the Poe-inspired band is softer and milder which is not at all a negative thing. The music is melancholic with both instrumental side and the vocal performance displaying smooth and soft qualities. The growling vocals never become annoyingly sharp nor shrieking as sometimes happens with bands playing such style but instead add a fitting and pleasant velvety layer to the calm and silent clean vocals and equally subtle instrumental play. Speaking of the style, many bands try to sound like several older representatives of a particular genre (take numerous repetitive symphonic bands imitating Nightwish) but fail to create equally good music. This band has done a good job for in several places their songs sound as the best of My Dying Bride, written by the masters during the classical era, nevertheless, being undoubtedly original and clearly distinct.

The tracklist of the album has been organised rather well. The best and most special song on this release is without any doubt the beautiful "Lady Of Shalott" which already adorned the eponymous EP. It could be said that if one wishes to get the idea of what the band has to offer, this song should be the first to be listened because it seems to concentrate the best characteristics of the group into one song. The first track of the album is also a good one as it serves as a good opening for the entire album. The Portuguese language song which follows is also a good one. It seems that this particular language suits that style of music especially well. The band should consider writing more lyrics in Portuguese. The last track is also an enjoyable gloomy and expressive song. To sum up, this is a piece of doom metal of good quality. To be enjoyed all year around preferably during evenings with some good drinks.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Production: 9

Written by Ernis | 10.03.2011




Comments

Comments: 17   [ 1 ignored ]   Visited by: 306 users
10.03.2011 - 23:05
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
A Dream of Poe? Uh oh, don't let ponderer see this review or Troy will get it in the neck.
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10.03.2011 - 23:28
MechanisT
Account deleted
The band name's a bit...geeky...to be honest, but their music looks appealing, like its right up my alley. Most likely to check them out.
Good job on the review.
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11.03.2011 - 00:53
Enemy of Reality
Account deleted
A bit disappointing actually. Apart from Lady of Shalott and Neophyte the rest of the songs sound like MDB dejá-vù.
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11.03.2011 - 02:34
Rating: 5
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
staff
Written by Guest on 10.03.2011 at 23:05

A Dream of Poe? Uh oh, don't let ponderer see this review or Troy will get it in the neck.

----
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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11.03.2011 - 06:38
My own personal review for this album:

A Dream Of Poe - The Mirror Of Deliverance (2011) - A Dream Of Poe is a doom/death band that sounds pretty run of the mill if you ask me. The songs go on for quite a bit, like in a normal doom/death album, (Nox Aurea for example) and the music is generally slow and depressive. There is some My Dying Bride influence here, and some ideas in the album that make a few songs more listenable than others, but as far as I'm concerned - there's not a whole hell of a lot here to make an impression except for the great guitar solos, and overall tremendous riffs.

Death/Doom fans, especially of My Dying Bride will more than likely enjoy this album, but I've heard far better in previous review sets. This one's up to you. The vocal style is much deeper than the vocalist for My Dying Bride, but the riffing is very similar, sans those great guitar solos. Not saying that MDB never had good solos, because they did - just these are really great. I'm not saying it's a bad album, because it has it's merits.

OVERALL: DOOM/DEATH INSPIRED BY MY DYING BRIDE. THE SOLOS ARE REALLY GREAT, DESPITE THE LONG LENGTH OF THE SONGS. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO DEPRESSIVE DOOM FANS, BUT IT'S NOT PERFECT. THERE ARE HOWEVER SOME GOOD TRACKS, SO IT'S UP TO YOU. STILL WORTH A SPIN FOR THE GOTHIC DOOMY FOLKS OUT THERE.

Score: 4/5

I normally review 15-20 albums a week. This is just one of em I decided to check out.
----
www.thegrimtower.com (updated ftequently with reviews and interviews!)

www.torii.bandcamp.com (black/doom/death)
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11.03.2011 - 08:47
joaonvno2009
Love this album

Fav Songs: ALL
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11.03.2011 - 17:36
Crap name, good band, good album!
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12.03.2011 - 13:10
Abattoir
staff
Decent stuff....and who cares about the goddamn band name.
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12.03.2011 - 18:20
Rating: 5
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
staff
Written by Abattoir on 12.03.2011 at 13:10

Decent stuff....and who cares about the goddamn band name.

I do and I was nearly e-raped for it.
----
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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12.03.2011 - 21:21
joaonvno2009
The name does not matter, what matters is the content which is excellent
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12.03.2011 - 21:26
Rating: 5
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
staff
Written by joaonvno2009 on 12.03.2011 at 21:21

The name does not matter, what matters is the content which is excellent

It's not that the name matters, it's that the name is stupid. I listened to one of their earlier EPs and the music was definitely good.
----
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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15.07.2011 - 04:22
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
elite
Written by thefallenalchmst on 11.03.2011 at 06:38


I normally review 15-20 albums a week.


Yeah, right...
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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24.04.2012 - 21:12
Not lying. But I'll admit that it has been slow since I've been working. I have however reviewed at least 30 albums this month.

Here is a link to my reviews on Page's (Vore's frontman) forum, NWA Metal.com:

http://www.nwametal.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=41&sid=3911a3140d2ee2ac033b71eaaf224d15

(obviously one must copy and paste into browser) Let me know what you think.
----
www.thegrimtower.com (updated ftequently with reviews and interviews!)

www.torii.bandcamp.com (black/doom/death)
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24.04.2012 - 22:40
Fritillaria
Account deleted
I eagerly want to hear this one... I must hear them
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25.04.2012 - 06:02
Rating: 5
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
staff
Written by thefallenalchmst on 24.04.2012 at 21:12
Let me know what you think.

I really dislike song-by-song reviews, and I'm not surprised you're able to write 15-20 a week as a result.

Not trying to sound like a douche or anything, that's just my two cents.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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27.04.2012 - 03:18
Well, not all of them are song by song reviews. I did a poll, but people seem to prefer the song by song reviews to the other ones, which I'll do if most of the songs sound along the same lines. Personally, it's quicker and easier to do the reviews if they aren't song by song. I could probably do twice the amount if I just ran a few paragraphs. But to each their own. Of course, I think it's rather tough to do a review on an album where every song sounds drastically different from the next.

Of course, my whole motive is this: Most of these people haven't heard X album yet, so my job is to explain just what they're spending their money on, and if it's worth spending their money on. Some people only like certain tracks, so I feel that I need to outline and explain each and every one of them in the most legible content that I can. I've even said, go ahead and buy this track from ITunes, but not this one.

It's the future of buying music after all.
----
www.thegrimtower.com (updated ftequently with reviews and interviews!)

www.torii.bandcamp.com (black/doom/death)
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27.04.2012 - 03:29
Ernis
狼獾
For some time song-by-song reviews were not accepted and I used to give advice to those whose reviews tilted too much towards that direction. Maybe things are different now. I have no idea, tho...
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