UMUR
"A Forgotten Dream" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Internal Decay. The album was released through Eurorecords in May 1993. It follows the release of the 1991 eponymously titled demo. Internal Decay formed in the Swedish capital of Stockholm in 1991. The band had however existed from 1987 under several different monickers. Internal Decay went widely unnoticed although they were a Stockholm band and the fact that "A Forgotten Dream" was recorded at Sunlight Studios, but of course not all Swedish bands from those days experienced success. None of the tracks from the 1991 demo appear on "A Forgotten Dream" in re-recorded versions, so all material on the album is new material.
While the material on "A Forgotten Dream" in some ways continue the old school Swedish death metal sound of the 1991 demo, Internal Decay have added considerable amounts of melody and a blackened touch to their music since the release of the demo. As a result "A Forgotten Dream" is a bit hard to tag correctly, but blackened melodic death metal isn´t the worst description if you ask me. The vocals are aggressive snarling rather than deep death metal growling. It´s artists like Unanimated, Dissection, and Necrophobic who come to mind, but Internal Decay are not quite as accomplished and they rely a bit more on epic atmosperic parts (with an ethnic Scandinavian edge). The often abrupt tempo changes and the slightly limb drumming are two of the features of the album which drag my rating down along with the often simplistic atmosphere enhancing keyboards.
Internal Decay are obviously a skilled band on a lot of parameters and they certainly also have some interesting songwriting ideas, but they struggle to make all the ends meet and when their drummer provides a weak link in terms of the musicianship things just don´t add up to an overall great release. But fans of melodic Scandinavian death metal with an old school blackened death metal touch may find more here to appreciate than I do. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.
