Dreaming Darkness Demo Reviews:
Behind
the Veil Zine
The
Belonging come from the United Kingdom and practice the unholy sport of black
metal. And even though their style does not leave much freedom for renewal
The Belonging with only three songs show that nothing is impossible when inspiration
is present. They practically explore the whole spectrum of black metal starting
from traditional sounds like early Mayhem, moving to the black splendor of
bands like Immortal and even reach the fields of more epic and obscure ways
like Primordial (at their black outbursts). “Dreaming Darkness”
starts out with a nice guitar prelude before jumping into action with “Setting
the Scene”, a song made for headbanging that would please every black
metal fan! This song is very close to Immortal indeed but for you that were
ready to jump to conclusions, The Belonging do NOT copy the Norwegians. A
powerful start. After that we have “Desecration” that surprises
with its tapping intro but soon we return to familiar sounds where blastbeats
and Norwegian riffology reign! And having enjoyed the two pure black/epic
tracks of the demo we move on to the last song “Dreaming Darkness”
which reveals the band's experimental nature.
An almost slow emotive black anthem closes the demo exceptionally and shows
that much has to be expected from them in the future. What I really appreciate
is that the band was not stingy at the least when it came to riffs. The demo
is full of many ideas that make the hearing much more interesting and multiform.
Attention: all of the riffs are excellent!
The typical black metal vocals are exactly what is needed for the music. We also have a marvelous production that lets all three tracks show their true character. A production comparable to professional works! Not bad for a demo eh? Exquisite drumming and of course wicked bass playing consist the rhythm section that along with a magnificent guitar sound, complete The Belonging's whole image.
Closing I'd like
to say that this is a really remarkable effort from a new band that has to
be supported. So, if you are into black metal with an intense dose of epic
mentality do no hesitate to grab this one!
8/10
Metal Mayhem Zine, UK
"Dreaming Darkness" is the second demo by the UK's The Belonging.
The production work is not the best I've heard, but putting that to one side, The Belonging play some interesting riff-laden blackened death metal. I've been trying to find some comparisons, but have been unable to think of any, which is a good thing as many young bands are heavily influenced by bands and end up sounding like complete rip-offs, that is simply not the case with The Belonging.
Another
interesting thing the band have two vocalists, but they never sing together,
there is the more traditional black metal style vocals by Richard and the
almost Jeff Walker/Carcass style vocals by Paul. Both of them are great but
I would really like to hear a dual-vocal song as I think it would really sound
great. I only have good things to say about The Belonging, they clearly have
there heads screwed on and know what they want to achieve.
8/10
I immediately liked the intro, (Prelude) clean crosspicking used to eerie effect, like something id expect to hear on an early Paradise Lost album, terrific opener! the calm but morbid clean picking then explodes into the rapturous riff of Setting the Scene. Classic metal riffery that grabbed my attention and held it right through into the trem picked riffs that appear before the verse. Its here that the vocals can be heard for the 1st time (Richard). The vocal style reminded me of Prophanity, which is no bad thing! from here on the song holds together well, with plenty of headbang-ability and without the shortfalls usually found in extreme music (repetitive, none-event riffs). The drum sound at the end is a nice fuckin touch! Then is perhaps my favourite track so far, Desecration which begins with a monster lead lick and then sets off into the kind of fast riff you know you have to headbang to, pure class! The vocals change for this song, now paul takes on the vocal duty (according to the sleeve, the styles are definately different). The vocals are deeper and definately balance richard's nicely. Great middle riff with plenty of stomp, perhaps remiscent of orange goblin... Again plenty of nice guitar work, great tone on the leads and well thought out directions. The song then settles into a slower section with a definate groove. Finally the title track. Again starts on a quieter note but soon begins to crank up the volume and balls. Once again another steady example of the bands capabilities at the moment, very impressive throughout (with nice touches like tempo and mood changes which then explode back into the song). Overall this cd is fuckin ace, One i'll be taping for the van for sure! Rock on!!!!!
8/10
Demaineshredder