Band:	In The Silence
Album:	A Fair Dream Gone Mad
Style:	Progressive metal
Release date:	June 04, 2012
A review by:	Ag Fox

01. Ever Closer
02. 17 Shades
03. Serenity
04. Beneath These Falling Leaves
05. Close To Me
06. Endless Sea
07. All The Pieces
08. Your Reward

A Fair Dream Gone Mad is one heck of a progressive metal album, debut or not. Did that just get your attention? Not convinced? Well, you won't be expecting many of the clichés of this sub-genre here, nor references to Dream Theater, Riverside, Fates Warning and such. To quote some of the more respected opinions on our beloved Metalstorm:

Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 01:25
Progressive metal comes in many different shapes and sizes

Written by Dane Train on 23.07.2012 at 23:26
One of the things I love about prog is that you can have Rush and Opeth together

Of course, I need to do some name dropping in a review so that my dear readers can have a rough idea of what to expect, so I would say take that dark brooding atmosphere from Green Carnation, some softer touches of Opeth / Porcupine Tree, and an omnipresent melancholy vibe that perhaps hints at Katatonia. Now stir in some sugar, spice and everything nice of the resonating siren-like riffs of post metal, you will have a tasty prog stew in the name of A Fair Dream Gone Mad. The truth is, In The Silence just plays music. It's evident from the onset that the band didn't sit down and say "Right guys, let's write and record a progressive metal album". Instead, they just came up with a bunch of emotive tunes from their hearts that are intricate and tastefully accessible. I realised that the description above might give the impression of the whole album being rather mellow and soft, but that is definitely not the case. While there are lighter moments scattered throughout, the heavier moments can really hit you in the most pleasurable way (no, I'm not a masochist). Perhaps among the highlights is that, unlike so many others before them, the hard-soft-hard-soft approach here flows and feels natural with constructive value to the music instead of giving the impression of "Where is this meandering off to?"

Despite being a debut, the band sounds self-assured like seasoned pros. It is definitely far from being the most impressive display of technicality and skill, but the music here is meant to be? music rather than showmanship, and the production is spot on, forming the complete package that belies the level of international fame of the band and their lack of a support from a label.

So? It's already been a staff pick, you can stream the whole thing for free on bandcamp, what are you waiting for?