Infinity... A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream

How seriously Desire took themselves we may never know, but the silly nicknames of these guys crack me up and who could forget this album title? Pretentious nicknames and album titles aside - we’re dealing with acceptable doom/death metal that leans more towards the melodic and weepy side of things here (as if that cover artwork wouldn’t give that one away).

To be honest I’m not even sure what Infinity… A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream tries to achieve, as it’s hardly a heavy record, yet it doesn’t function as an album that tries to lure one into its own world through repetition for atmospheric sake. To start off with, this isn’t much of a riff-driven record, even though it’s fairly guitar-driven. Guitars sound far from rigid, yet there aren’t many actual standout riffs emerging – instead, they function more as a tool to lead compositions onward, regardless of the pacing that’s taking place. Referentially speaking Infinity… A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream doesn't obviously owe anything to earlier albums I can think of, yet I can certainly identify some interest in Paradise Lost circa Icon at times. Take ‘’A Ride in a Dream Crow’’ for instance, where one stumbles upon a brief, yet brisk riff between the dreamy synths. That said, Infinity… A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream isn’t much of a ‘’riff monster’’ that hammers one to death with physically harming riff work. That’s not to say that the movements of these compositions are caused by many leads, either. In fact, they’re rather created by pretty ordinary rhythms where leads take a supporting role (even if they aren’t exactly stealing the show). As far as guitar solos are concerned, only ‘’Leaving This Land of Eternal Desires’’ features a brief, if sentimental solo during the track’s break of a guitarist who goes by the name of Mist. You’d think that the keyboard player would name himself like that, yet he’s called Dawn instead...but I digress.

Regardless of what Infinity… A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream tries to achieve, it's rather enjoyable, even if it’s hardly the most exciting doom/death metal album out there. The gradual tempo change prevent the tracks from sounding trapped in a one dimensional manner and while there are no threatening riffs showing up that could punch you in the face and kick you in the nuts (or guts for that matter), I’ve heard far sappier guitar work. Sure, these guitar riffs sound fairly ‘’pretty’’, yet seldom get boring. Lyrically speaking ‘’Leaving This Land of Eternal Desires’’ gets rather silly (did you already get that the vocalists cry for their desire?), yet these guitar riffs slowly unfold themselves in a well-paced manner and that works well enough for me. From the humming synths that start off to the quasi-rousing movements and back again, the track sounds quite like a calming journey and although the stereotypical vocal mixture isn’t the best, I can certainly think of bands that featured worse vocals (such as Visceral Evisceration for example). You know the deal: thick beasty growls, thin blackened shrieks, angelic female vocals and goofy spoken word passages.

As far as individual compositions are concerned, Infinity… A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream doesn’t have too many to offer, but that’s hardly an issue to me (besides, who likes their albums to be bloated? I don’t). Therefor it’s probably for the best to spin this album in one setting to get the most out of it, even though it’s not without disturbances. Somehow ‘’Forever Dreaming’’ sees Desire restraining way too much for their own good, as you end up with a lazy palm muted guitar chug, cliché spoken word sections and not enough and a goofy keyboard melody that’s at least worth a laugh. The thick and prominent bass lines do promise something rewarding, yet the track just never takes off and the result is an undeniable piece of filler.

Regardless, Infinity… A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream features more pros than cons and it's as suitable for an introspective evening as it is for a nice walk close to the sea - you can thank the woman on the cover artwork for making me think of the latter.

This review was originally written for antichristmagazine.com

Desire is a Portugal band that has also come and gone throughout their history, and has only releasing two albums thus far. Normally I would say gothic metal is some of the most depressing music in metal, but not for Desire's debut album "Infinity... A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream" a triumphant take on melodic death-doom before death-doom became melodic. I have to say this is album is up there with "Arcane Rain Fell" it's one of the most depressing atmospheric albums I've ever heard. Desire has an incredibly special sound where it is following its own original sound without taking inspiration from the likes of the peaceville three and Katatonia. Their music was also atmospheric and depressing I confused it with gothic metal mainly due to its inclusion of keyboards and the way they were used. However, Desire's debut album taught me that even a death-doom band can use keyboards to have that level of depression.

From first listen "Infinity..." was phenomonal to listen to. I had already loved other atmospheric albums like Anathema's "Eternity," Type O Negative's "October Rust," and Monumentum's "In Absentia Christi" but this album is atmospheric from a death-doom perspective. The musical structure is perfect and emotional, and presents a lot of empowering music. I would have given this album a 100 percent, but what made me rate it a tad lower is the production. While the production is not bad in fact I barely notice it whenever I listen to the album, but having better crisp production would have made this album perfect. Nevertheless, it's still emotionally powerful and the way these Songs are made strongly make up its production. It's guitars are slow and simple, but is played in keys that are depressing and has really good dynamic identity. The instrument that truly excels is the keyboards. Church-like, melancholic, and a wall of sound, the keyboards is powerful and adds a lot of emotional weight to the death-doom inspirations that are contained in this album. It gives the album melody and sensitivity, and leaves a huge feeling of depression throughout the entire album. Even throughout it's instrumental parts it's still satisfying to hear the keyboards. It's piano parts are superior and classically trained, probably one of the most skillful piano playing in death-doom. The words to describe "Infinity..." would be bombastic, depressing, atmospheric, and above all else powerful.

"Infinity..." also has lyrics that are really good. Wordy? Yeah, but it doesn't contain anything that would fill in Songs and most of it is very dark and sensitive. Here's an example from "Forever Dreaming... (Shadow Dance)":

"Another fruit is falling from my eyes,
The seed... the last of the lies...
Leaving This Land of the Eternal Desires,
I'm drinking from thy enchanted fires..."

It has tender moments that work well in unison with these lyrics and the band's vocalist who also shows passion through the lyrics that he growls. There are few things I would change in the lyrics, but throughout the album the lyrics are really well written.

I have to say that Desire's debut album has become one of my fastest biggest obsessions in terms of death-doom. I always search for metal that is atmospherically depressing, shows passion and care, despite being slow and heavy shows a lot of skill in its instrumentation. "Infinity... A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream" has all that. One of the most depressing metal albums and have to say the most depressing of all death-doom. This is an album that I would recommend to people who search for some death-doom that is melodic and atmospheric with a lot of sensitivity. It's near-perfect and was ahead of its time in death-doom during a time where most members in the genre either disappeared or moved on to play gothic metal (this album could be borderline gothic death-doom). There wasn't a lot of melodic death-doom by the mid-90s and Desire did something different and made something powerful and atmospheric.

I'm sitting in my dark room... There is no illumination whatsoever. It is extremely hot outside, and because of that, I feel completely miserable. At this current point in time, I am going through somewhat of a binge with doom metal, although mainly funeral doom and death/doom. An album by a band called Desire shows its beautiful face on my computer screen. That album is called "Infinity... A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream". After listening to this music, it is easy to see why the band decoded to bestow this name upon the album. Desire was formed in 1994 and had a career that ran until earlier this year, when they called it quits in January. Released in 1996, "Infinity..." is the first album these guys put out, and out of the two full-lengths Desire released, it is their best in my opinion. Hailing from Portugal, it really is a shame that these guys are not more well-known. This is definitely one of the greatest death/doom albums I have heard yet.

After an atmospheric prelude, we get the epic "Leaving This Land of Eternal Desires". This 17-minute beast of a song showcases what we are going to hear with the remaining duration of the album. The music is very slow and droning, as it should be with doom. However, it is not at all boring and pretentious. The guitars on this album are extremely melodic, with "Leaving This Land of Eternal Desires" containing some of my personal favorite guitar riffs. The tone of these guitars is quite thick and meaty, again, as it should be with this style of music. At shortly after the 9-minute mark in "Leaving...", the pace picks up a bit, but still remains slow. Of course, the music does slow down again once more. The piano intro to the next song "A Ride in a DreamCrow" is yet another moment of pure, atmospheric beauty. Melody, atmosphere, and sadness are the key elements to the music here. If you came here looking for a happy sounding album, you're going to be quite disappointed. Rather than creating a sound to entice headbanging, Desire utilizes melancholic melodies to grip the listener by their heart and sing hymns of death and loss to radiate sadness.

The vocals range from horrifying, deep death growls to soft, clean, spoken word, poetic verses. When combined with the beautiful, melancholic brutality of the instruments, we get something truly haunting and at times, insane. This is definitely not a bad thing. This all enhances the atmosphere more. Orchestration is a huge key on this album. Songs like "The Purest Dreamer" utilize orchestration and synths as background noise to the melodic guitar riffs, only enhancing the album's somber atmosphere. Some of the finest moments are the clean piano parts. Clean pieces such as "In Delight with the Mermaid" and the "Epilogue" really help to break up the metal intensity with soft, ambient prices of unplugged doom. The female vocals on "Forever Dreaming (Shadow Dance) and "Epilogue" are especially beautiful and operatic, definitely making up one of my favorite moments on the album.

I am extremely glad I stumbled upon this album. It seems to never be spoken of within the death metal genre, especially when the topic of death/doom comes up. It is a criminally overlooked release and for fans of this style of music, I believe it to be essential. Also, check out Desire's second and final album "Locus Horrendus - The Night Cries of a Sullen Soul...". I personally don't think it is as good an album, but it is still amazing and shouldn't be overlooked. This album is perfect. No doubt about it.

Infinity... A Timeless Journey Through An Emotional Dream. Well that could very well be the whole review right there because the title somehow sums up the entire tone of the album, although I think the journey referenced here is death and not a dream.

This is Desire's first studio release, it's a concept album and in my opinion one of the best doom albums I have listened to in a while. A captivating death doom release with abundant atmospheric and melodic elements, just my cup of tea.

The vocals are very pleasant and easy to the ear, clean vocals are very common in all the songs, and the growls have good depth and just enough emotional weight to accompany the lyrical and musical emphasis on sorrow and death. There are female vocals too, almost exclusively used for chant-like vocals which are great if you don't mind them, and they add to the overall feel of the album. Guitar solos are often thrown in with atmospheric pieces, a piano, and haunting whispers. Some of the atmospheric parts remind me of the Protoss #1 theme from Starcraft II, very eerie indeed.

This album has three instrumental songs. The first one is a prologue to the album that has a sweet melody along with hymn-like vocals, I loved it. The second one is an acoustic guitar passage with some ambient music in the background, it's very good also. The final track is the epilogue to the album, it's by far the weakest of all the songs in the album and kind of redundant. Overall I really like the instrumental tracks here, they add a lot to the album.

"Leaving This Land Of The Eternal Desires" is almost what I would call a masterpiece of doom music, at 17 minutes of majesty. Song #3 "A Ride In A Dream Crow" is the weakest link of the album, it's uninspired as a whole and contains a hilariously bad uttering of the words "dance with me.. infinity" which I cringed when I first heard it. "The Purest Dreamer" is another great song, a great riff and melodies, also a piano is ever present in this song. "Forever Dreaming..." is probably my favorite song of the album depending on my mood, oh and this song has a piano solo in it.. yeah.

The album carries a coherent atmosphere throughout which is great since I love the feel I get while listening this album, there are a couple of things that could have been done better or cut out of the album to make it more tight but overall this is a great debut effort and a must listen in my opinion for any doom listener.

"At last I can feel it, the burning sky over me.
Am I falling or rising from this garden of suffering?"