Silverfade is the fourth album of The Dreaming Tree, a British alt-rock prog band; it is their first new album since five years and also their first album to be supported with worldwide distribution. To tell you the truth I had never heard of The Dreaming Tree (nice name for a band by the way) before. After a couple of spins of Silverfade I can say that this new effort is a very decent, good prog rock album. I would describe the sound of The Dreaming Tree - not to pigeonhole them - as a blend of bands like The Tangent, A.C.T.. and Spock's Beard. TDT definitely have their own style as they mix melodic rock and alternative rock with a breeze of neo rock. Just listen to the first two songs Yesterday's Tomorrow and Heart Shaped Bruises on this new album and you will probably know already if you like the sound of this band or not. In most of the fourteen tracks the guitar riffs, hooks and melodies of Dan Jones are rather “dominant”, so that the entire album sounds slightly rocky. I especially like the heavy guitar riffs in songs like Zero To Type One (original hard rock), Heart Shaped Bruises and Forever Not Forever. The latter being my favorite song on the album, filled with cool riffs, melodies and a magnificent instrumental intro. Sadly The Dreaming Tree also “surprises” me with two acoustic songs (Loose It Off and The Ocean) and as a regular reader of the Background website you probably know that I hate- better: loathe - acoustic run of the mill songs! But that is my “problem”. All in all Silverfade is a good album with lots of musical styles and enough variety, although the song writing/composition could use a little bit more innovation and improvement. *** Martien Koolen (edited by Astrid de Ronde) Where to buy? |
