Jade - Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream - review
Jade - Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream - review
Band
Jade Release date
May 09, 2025 Tracklist
01. The Stars' Shelter02. Light's Blood
03. Shores Of Otherness
04. The Stars' Shelter (II)
05. 9th Episode
06. Darkness In Movement
07. A Flowery Dream
A review by
nikarg May 07, 2025
When it comes to Jade, I am a bit biased. I staff-picked their debut album, The Pacification Of Death, I wrote about their splendid split with Sanctuarium in our splits article, and even had it as my favourite split release of 2024 on my year-end list. Including their debut demo, the band has had a flawless stream of releases up until what we often characterize as “the difficult second album”. Not that The Pacification Of Death was a commercial success (whatever this would mean in underground metal) that would be hard to top, but in the sense that it was a triumph of inspired death metal, coming from a new band with a fresh sound.
If you are not familiar with Jade, they could be described as a fusion of Bølzer, Hooded Menace, The Ruins Of Beverast, and Sulphur Aeon. Compared to their previous releases, the new album does not steer away from what the band has presented before, and, in my opinion, this was a wise choice, since their individual style still has a lot to offer. You can expect atmospheric synth soundscapes blending with doomy death metal riffs and blackened passages, while melancholic and sharp lead guitars rip the air. A fantastic interplay of cavernous growls and clean vocals that shout at the void make for an obscure and intense listening session.
The songs take different forms; they can be dark and ominous, gloomy and melancholic, dreamy and psychedelic, or aggressive and bludgeoning, while the transitions in mood and execution are so seamless and natural that the flow of the album is never hindered. Listening to Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream is an immersive journey and an almost spiritual experience; the whole record is an artistic statement that transcends death metal’s boundaries, setting the bar high for the genre. It is rare to find such evocative songwriting, carefully layered production, and conceptual depth, all in one album.
Musically and lyrically, Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream is compared by mainman J. to “a journey into the dialogue between conscious and subconscious dreaming states and the mysteries around”. The stunning cover art by Adam Burke depicts the moon goddess Ixchel, portrayed here as the Spider that threads human fate. This kind of attention to detail in the artistic presentation is also evident in the songwriting and the performance, and it is further enhanced by the recording quality, which is top class (recorded at Moontower Studios and mastered by Jaime G. Arellano).
I remember how I viewed bands like Tribulation, Chapel Of Disease, or Blood Incantation, when they were emerging; it felt like they were death metal’s greatest hope. And, indeed, they fulfilled that hope, leaving a mark on metal music in general. I now view Jade in a similar way; this is the second main chapter in a story that I cannot wait to see where it will go. I don’t know what musical territories they will explore in the future, but for the time being, they are certainly one of the genre’s most exciting acts.
“For the thresholds of cosmos once closed
Only darkness in movement rules my world”
Comments
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Funny that you mention Tribulation, Chapel Of Disease, or Blood Incantation, out of which two already left realms of death metal and one is flirting with leaving it incorporating more and more non-death metal or even metal parts to their music. Hope Jade will manage to stay within the genre and just push boundaries. To avoid misunderstanding I like what Tribulation, Chapel Of Disease, or Blood Incantation are doing but yet still prefer their death metal albums. Hope Jade will be more like Ulcerate or Stargazer pushing bounderies but still brutal and within the genre.
---- Okręt mój płynie dalej gdzieś tam Serce choć popękane chce bić Nie ma Cię i nie było jest noc Nie ma mnie i nie było jest dzień
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^ I actually mentioned these three bands very much on purpose. When I say that they fulfilled the hope of death metal music, it is because, in my opinion, albums like The Formulas Of Death, ...And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye, and Hidden History Of The Human Race are masterpieces of the genre. While I enjoy immensely these bands' death metal era, I equally love their exploration of other genres, which is why I said that they have left a "mark in metal music in general". Jade give me a similar excitement to what these bands did in their beginning. I would like them to continue doing death metal, but they are such a talented band that I believe they would excel in whatever they do. For now, Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream is death metal album of the year for me, along with Ego Dissolution.
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Yeah this is a really strong album - death metal at its core, but black and doom metal making their mark on top of the atmospheric explorations of songs like The Star's Shelter (II)
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Posts: 9624
Man, such a fantastic album
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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Posts: 1372
Sometimes there's a review. Ahh yes, this is the one. Great that I happened upon this review today because I don't invest all that much time in reading them anymore. The album was an instant hit!
---- That rug really tied the room together, did it not? 
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Posts: 8252 Written by TheBigRossowski on 15.05.2025 at 16:32 Hey, I'm glad that you read this one and that you liked the album 
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