Revery - Chasing Shadows (review)
Revery curtails the synthwave of albums past, in favor of more dynamic metal, creating his most adventurous album yet.
Score: 7/10
It’s album catchup week! Come back soon for more reviews of albums we missed earlier this year.
It’s Revery’s third album within a year, but perhaps third time’s the charm. After dabbling in new-age backdrops and synthwave gloss in past albums, Revery hits their stride in this metal-focused heater.
Drums pummel, guitars strike with conviction, while electronics flutter in the background. All of it forming grandiose instrumentals, culminating in Revery’s most adventurous and dynamic experience yet. Not only is it their most focused album sonically, but structurally as well, with a digestible 17-minute runtime. The shorter duration allows the songs to have an identity of their own, without treading over the same emotion territory. There’s the ominous atmospherics of “Hollow”, the upbeat energy in “Attrition”, and the brooding headspace of “Haunted”, while the fiercest moments belong to “Chasing Shadows.”
There’s still a lot of progressive-metal meandering in these instrumentals, but it’s done with dexterity and a sense of adventure, while the anthemic power-metal riffage gets you revved up with inspiration. It’s Revery’s hardest hitting, yet most pleasurable, listen to date.
Score: 7/10
