The Dreamside are not a band I’d normally pick to listen to, yet back in the day they were on Nuclear Blast for a year (or two, long enough to release the amazing "Apaika" in ‘97). That was when Nuclear Blast first set up show in North America, Philadelphia to be exact and I wrote the catalog descriptions for EVERY disc they carried at the time. Somehow, this female fronted Dutch outfit caught my interest and while I haven’t kept up with them since, this was a reacquaintance opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

Labeled Goth, there’s the odd rock out moment (‘Higher Ground’, ‘Unspoken’) amongst the fifteen selections, but general, the vocals are in hushed tones (if not whispered), with acoustic guitars/strings and piano/synthesizers. That said, at times there’s not much distance between something like classic The Gathering, Within Temptation or even old Lacuna Coil and this current Dreamside offering (opening bass fuzzy ‘Everlasting’). The appropriately entitled 3:31 instrumental ‘Hush’ is a series of orchestral strings and moody keys, punctuated by the occasional deep end rumble (like distant thunder).

Male counterpoint is introduced, actual the dominant voice on ‘Seeds Of Pain’, a decidedly New Wave sounding vocal performance (apparently a collaboration with US based Information Society. Who?). Male voiceover atop the low moan of cello introduces ‘Willing To Learn’. Not sure why the departure from form towards the conclusion of the disc, but thankfully it’s contiguous and left to the end (for easy editing/deletion).