Band: Persephone’s Dream
CD Title: “Pyre of Dreams”
Band Website: www.persephonesdream.com
Label: ProgRock Records
Label Website: www.progrockrecords.com
Release
Date: 2007
I first became aware of Pennsylvania based Persephone’s Dream back around the time of their second release Moonspell
in 1999. If anyone would have asked me lately I would have to admit I was unaware of what had happened to the band in the intervening
years. Well I’m happy to report that they’re still treading the floor boards and have graced us with a new CD, their fourth entitledPyre of Dreams. While the band has seen changes in personnel over the years they’re still led by the guitar and keyboard skills of
Rowen Poole and the desire to make moody mythic music fronted with female vocals.
This is a band that got its start back in
the late eighties and has persevered through the years performing live in clubs and festivals. Musically Persephone’s Dream have tended
to fall into a kind dreamy, almost Pink Floyd inspired blend of spacey, gothic prog. Keyboards form atmospheric layers, building tension
and release, while guitars alternate between solid heavy crunch and delicate soaring leads. The songs run anywhere from two to nine
minutes in length with style and tempo transitions occurring seamlessly at every turn. Pyre of Dreams does have as its centre piece
the five-part epic Arthurian tale entitled “Temple in Time” which runs 23-minutes in length. Even here there are no jarring moments
where the music turns on a dime, rather changes in time and tempo are accomplished with a certain degree of finesse. The music seems
to actually approach a change before making the transition completely which makes for a deceptive flow. And when you combine the fact
that a number of the compositions flow together it gives the feeling of longer compositions. The vocals from Heidi Engel and Colleen
Gray provide the perfect style for the moody music. The songs tend to be about myths and legends and require that epic tone, while
projecting a certain mystery, dreaminess and melancholy and both are superb in their own way painting pictures in the mind’s eye.
I’d have to say the music of Persephone’s Dream, even though a little harder in nature at times will appeal to fans of bands
like Mostly Autumn or perhaps Karnataka. This is a deceptively accomplished disc. Pyre of Dreams has a little something for fans of
gothic and symphonic prog with lots of nice musical surprises along the way. Well worth picking up and adding to the collection. There
is much to enjoy and appreciate here.
