Band:	Jade
Album:	Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream
Style:	Atmospheric black metal, Atmospheric death metal, Doom death metal
Release date:	May 09, 2025
A review by:	nikarg

01. The Stars' Shelter
02. Light's Blood
03. Shores Of Otherness
04. The Stars' Shelter (II)
05. 9th Episode
06. Darkness In Movement
07. A Flowery Dream

A legendary figure of Metal Storm used to say that “all music is atmospheric”. Well, the truth is that some bands are more atmospheric than others. My fellow metalheads, let me introduce you to ‘Jade emperor, master of all’.

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”