Released in 2007 through Burning Heart Records/Epitaph, ‘The Absinthe Dreams’ is the second studio album from the Swedish metalcore band that is Path Of No Return. The album consists of eleven tracks and clocks in at just over 42 minutes in length; it’s a pretty decent album and although not perfect, Path Of No Return is most definitely a band that is good at what it does. Path Of No Return sets out to attempt nothing new here, ‘The Absinthe Dreams’ would not win many marks for originality but what the band lacks in creativity it more than makes up for in talent.
The album gets off to a furious start with ‘Soran’, right from the word go the bands powerful guitar riffs and ferocious vocal tone hit you hard. The bands sound is strong and always here the music is powerful in its progression. ‘Soran’ provides an excellent opening to the album and throughout the release the bands tracks remain consistently strong and excellent to listen to. Due to the fact that the band is so unoriginal this therefore detracts away from the overall listening experience a little at times, for the most part however you tend to forget about this as the music is just so good here.
Title track ‘The Absinthe Dreams’ is most definitely one of my absolute favourites from this album, it’s instrumental to begin with and then at about a minute in the music really begins to explode. There’s the light sound of drumming, a pleasant underlying bass sound, and slight guitar stroke also; at the 45 second mark the vocals begin to roll and build in power as they charge through the track. There are a couple of instrumental sections utilised here, the band gifts you with a nice calm instrumental piece before thrusting you into the full pelt of the vocals and this really is something that works out terrifically well for Path Of No Return here. The calmness of the track breaks the album up nicely and is a nice change from the bands usual full on metalcore antics. ‘The Marriage of Black and White’ is another excellent track from this album with which the band repeats a similar sort of song structure.
It’s almost as though Path Of No Return was saving it’s best until last here however as with closing track ‘The Poet’s Walk’ the bands music actually sounds better than ever. The track provides a fantastic final five minutes for the album and really brings the music to a most magnificent end. The track progresses well, momentum builds powerfully throughout, and always here there is much to be taken from the artists sound. The music is great to listen to and the track really leaves you wanting for more. The band winds it down with about a minute to go and it’s therefore crystal clear that the record is over and the end of the album has been reached. For the final minute of the album atmospheric sound is utilised which slowly fades into the background as the album draws to its end.
‘The Absinthe Dreams’ is not the most original album in the world, it’s still quite a good one to listen to though and if you’re looking to listen to a decent metalcore band then you can’t go far wrong with Path Of No Return. I’d definitely recommend giving this ‘The Absinthe Dreams’ album a go; don’t expect the band to try and reinvent the wheel but do prepare to be impressed. It consists of eleven tracks, and although they’re not all perfect there are a number present here that are most definitely well worth listening to. As far as metalcore goes then you won’t find much finer an album than this, so if the genre floats your boat then most definitely give ‘The Absinthe Dreams’ a listen.
Label: Burning Heart Records/Epitaph
Release Date: August 27th 2007
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
