Dreams in Fragments

Dreams in Fragments

Reflections of a Nightmare

Rockshots Records

28 June 2019

The symphonic power metal works well for fans looking for soft, high feminine singing and gentle chugging, play-on-riff guitar, the prominent use of keyboards and the catchy songs for a fun, poppy listening experience. The album should be checked out by true, die-hard, love-it-all collectors of all things symphonic power metal. The band prefers to keep the guitars less important than the keyboards, in the sense that there is no shredding, no neoclassical, no guitar hero gymnastics, and no guitar heaviness. Overall, the guitars are there to provide rhythm, and generally this means a softer, gentle chugging type of play-on riffs that have a very functional, practical purpose to keep the song going. Fans who want big guitars, big distinctive riffs and guitar showmanship might be disappointed, but fans searching for music that keeps the guitars restricted to rhythm almost exclusively (with a few exceptions), and that want more melody coming from the keyboards than the guitars, those fans should be pretty pleased with this approach. The effect is a very ear-friendly, pop-oriented type of melodic music. The music is animated, although the band seeks a gothic or melancholic type of poppy sound. The singing is light and soft, although the band uses a bit of low, male growling, but this is always done with a gentle touch and it is not harsh, it is not upfront. The high singing does not have big power behind it, it does not project big time, and it’s kept at a volume or tone that does not give it lots of prominence. To these ears, some of the singing, at times, seems to have a certain processed quality, although it’s not clear what exactly that is, and only a more expert and knowledgeable set of ears with experience in sound engineering (or musicians) might be able to recognize it and name it immediately. The singing is not super high upfront operatic but rather a more subtle style, and whether this is by choice, by virtue of being a newer band, by lack of experience/skill or by lack of natural talent, that is not clear yet, although it seems like the band is not yet well established and we should not rush to judgment because bands can have big resilience and can often improve tremendously with more time and experience. facebook.com/dreamsinfragments/

facebook.com/dreamsinfragments/