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Internal Decay > A Forgotten Dream > Reviews
Internal Decay - A Forgotten Dream

A Forgotten Album - 57%

OzzyApu, May 1st, 2010

Swedish death metal always had a way of blending melody with a decayed guitar tone to create some of the best riffs. In the middle of masters like Dismember and early Entombed, we had smaller bands like Internal Decay that flew under the radar while still making some sort of impression on the listeners that weren’t lacking when it came to attention to detail. While I expected some crushing death metal, I should have realized that the most I’d get (especially with a goofy album cover like this one) was melodic death metal with hardly any lasting value.

There are many aspects to this album that don’t impress me, with the first offense having to do with the vocals. Production I don’t want to butcher outright, but then I remember that the guys in Dismember were still pretty much high school students when their magnificently produced debut was recorded and I want to lay the smackdown on this band for royally screwing up. The guitars could have held a crushing, rusty tone, but instead they’re thinner than any In Flames guitar tone I’ve heard. The riffs are better, though, with apt thrashiness and a few doomy sections that get even more twisted and vile. The leads though just sound whiny and too slim for my liking, especially when trying to sound vicious. Acoustics are included and utilized well for mood purposes, working lightly except in “…And Darkness Shall Fall” where it’s used with the synths and female singing to create a dreamlike, gothic atmosphere of utter peace.

The production job, while lacking in respect to Internal Decay’s peers, does manage to give every instrument a chance. The problem is that as death metal this sometimes isn’t the best move, and with this album there’s very little passion or anger to it. A Forgotten Dream, while a good run, is just stale and hardly has any personality or imposing factors. Some riffs are bludgeoning like a couple on the title track and “My Hatred,” but that’s a couple too short and the plan only backfires from there. Where guitar fails, the bass isn’t too far behind trying to fill in the potholes. Sometimes you’ll get to hear the actual plucks and buzzing lines of the bass strings grumbling, but this just makes you wish it had a louder boom to back it up.

Vocals do nothing but grate my patience. I can take most roars, grunts, growls, frog burps, and screams, but these ones don’t even get a nod from me. If I were to be a critical douche, then I’d call this rap gurgling, but I guess throaty growling gets the job done without being mean. Still, they sound cold and lifeless as opposed to chilly and mutilated like they are supposed to. Drumming isn’t tattered as badly, but I say that because I’m very picky about snares. The ones here aren’t hollow, but it doesn’t have any power behind it. Cymbal hits are what I want – thick crashes that add more flavor and density to such a shallow production. While not fast-paced or aggressive, the rhythms and patterns employed fit the blackened tone enough to be the better of all the instruments.

Writing wise, the band had it together, so it’s a real shame finding that production killed it for them. However, this is just me with my extremely high standards when it comes to death metal production. I can definitely tell that those looking for melodic-tinged death metal (not melodeath) will like this one and think that I’m overreacting. Whatever, go ahead and check it out as I don’t exactly hate the album; it does deserve better, though.

A forgotten dream... - 95%

Ad_van_den_Boom, March 2nd, 2008

That is exactly what this album is by now: A forgotten DREAM. There is magic in this album, there is magic in the band Internal Decay!
When this album came out in 1993 it got a very positive review over here in the Dutch Aardschok-Metal Hammer by Wim Baelus (the greatest reviewer ever, later he released on his Belgian label Midian Creations a.o. the first Ancient Rites lp, the first Sathanas ep “Ripping Evil” and the mighty Samhain demo “The Courier” on 7”vinyl).
This cd differs a lot from the “Sunlight” wave (Carnage/Dismember, Nihilist/Entombed, Grave, a.o.), neither it has a lot to do with the later Gothenburg-sound or the blackened death by Dissection, Uncanny, Sacramentum, Dawn, Mörk Gryning and the like.

Internal Decay was, is and will always be an enlightened band in the (death)metal genre. The band didn’t get a lot of attention back then and I even managed to pick up three more copies of their cd in later years at metal-markets and second-hand bins. I gave these away every time to one of my friends, who were just as begeistert with this album as I am.
In fact this review is done because one of these metal veterans asked me to do so: he browsed the archives and about the first band he looked up was Internal Decay… he was absolutely shocked, if not angry that this fantastic album didn’t have a review yet.

What is so special then about “A forgotten dream”? First thing is the sound of the album. Though it was actually recorded in the Sunlight studios, the sound is way clearer than the typical Swedish, heavily distorted “chuck-chuck” guitars which made Entombed and Dismember so famous and which was copied a bit too much in the end. I remember Thomas Skogsberg explaining this trend in a zine by admitting that many young bands came to his infamous studio without a real plan for the recording sessions. They just plugged in their guitars and kind of ended up automatically with the success-formula-sound, one notable exception mentioned in the same interview was Christofer Johnsson and his Therion. Maybe when there are two albums that deserve to be compared with A forgotten dream, it must be Therion’s second – and maybe best – album “Beyond Sanctorum” and Eucharist’s “A velvet creation.” The last one because of the technical abilities of the musicians and the song structures (but Internal Decay’s production is way better!) and Therion’s album because of the unique dark atmosphere and the exceptional guirar-riffs and -solos. Beyond sanctorum is heavier though than A forgotten dream.
What helped Internal Decay to drift far away from the Sunlight sound is probably that they used another producer, namely Lars Linden. He did a great job: all instruments come out perfectly and an ethereal, atmospheric sound is prevalent throughout the album.
When listening back after 15 years, one could maybe desire a bit more power or aggression in the sound, but I doubt if it would make the tracks really better in the end.

This album has two big stand-out features. The first are the keyboard and piano-parts, which are not “added” as usual, but which are part of the compositions. Together with the predominantly mid-tempo guitar leads and very tight drumming the keys especially give the album it’s dreamlike sound and right-out beauty!
The other mighty aspect of this album, which makes it such a classic and unforgettable release, are the guitar riffs and the very special solos. From beginning to end you are pushed and triggered to dance, headbang and scream with the vocals by the twists and hooks performed by Jakobsson – the main songwriter – and Maturana, who also does the solos.
I am still mesmerized by Internal Decay and so are my metal brothers from the start. One can witness on ebay that the copies of the cd that passed through my hands became worth small fortunes… so obviously there are some more people who are still haunted by this album and want to haunt it to obtain it themselves.

The two best tracks are for me number 3 “The anguish of twilight” and the title song, which is divided in two tracks on the cd: number 5 and 6. The track numbering in the booklet, as well as on the backtraycard and the cd itself is wrong. See the Forgotten dream page for the correct order of the songs.
The anguish of twilight starts of in the typical flowing and easy-going style, but after a really cool solo the track accelerates eagerly with a punishing riff. The screams make you feel the anguish and restlessness of the storyteller, who fears the twilight of the night, when demons and horrors come out to suffer him.

A forgotten dream begins with a beautiful piano introduction. After that the biting guitar riffs give it a bit of a thrash-sound which is sustained by the extensive soloing in the first part of the song and again the gripping vocals. The mid-tempo power chords, bass line and drumming however bring the track back into Internal Decay’s own special style: dreamlike and spacey. But these masters don’t let the song bleed to death, on the opposite: twice more the song picks up a lot of energy and really keeps you in trance. After the return of the piano, the song fades away and gives you the idea it has not really ended yet: you can dream on if you want…
After “A forgotten dream” there are two more real metal tracks to enjoy: “Ex Oblivione” and “Tears of Blood”.

The final two tracks are no metal songs. Without really noticing it the special atmosphere of the album is maintained but diverted from the metal side to a more transcendental state. The acoustic parts, synths and piano together with the female vocals remind a bit of Dead Can Dance. It is kind of a soft landing from the dream you had back to the real world. But no worries: one can always press the play button again! Absolutely ashamed that this band didn’t continue to produce a second album. On the other hand this saved us from a big let-down, cause chances that a band follows up such a sensational album with an even better release are very small!

I have already mentioned two other Swedish bands to give a hint of the atmosphere you can expect, personally I also think the magic of “Dance of December souls” (released in 1993 as well) has the same quality as “A forgotten dream”. Katatonia is more doom-like of course, but both bands take their time to develop a theme. As a result the songs are not only longer than average, but also better. A forgotten dream is a small gem with big impact in the history of melodic death metal!

(Hails to Friso)