Chapter Xiii - Dream Salvation

  by Jonjo McNeill

published: 17 / 5 / 2006

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In 1998, every student union Battle of the Bands in Britain had a metal band. And they all sounded exactly like this record, 'Dream Salvation'. The artistes responsible - Chapter VIII - may well have more ideas than their student counterparts, but they don't really fit them together very well. 'Dream Salvation' is certainly an electic collection of styles, centred mainly around a metal ethic. There are standard metal numbers ('Lucky Day', 'The Last Time'), metal ballads ('Miss Me When I'm Dead', 'I'm Alive'), nu-metal ('Lately') and metal funk ('Fall'). This is all well and good, but of course (metal) eclecticism does not a good album make, and unfortunately for Chapter XIII they forgot to bring the songs. There's plenty going on here - interesting keyboard samples, non typical drum patterns - but it all feels a tad redundant. A standard metal vocal style, coupled with clichéd lyrics and dubious harmonies fails to go unnoticed behind the poorly constructed song structures and tiresome guitars. With the curse of Nu-Metal now (thankfully) in the past, bands like Chapter XIII really need to look forward instead of back. What good ideas they do seem to have they've wasted on what sounds like a rush-recorded "will this do ?" album. There's very little to recommend here, other than a change in direction for the band perhaps.

Track Listing:-

1 Lucky Day
2 The Last Time
3 Miss Me When I'm Dead
4 Lately
5 I'm Alive
6 Don't Break Me Down
7 Dream Salvation
8 Hit Me
9 Dust To Dust
10 Happening Now
11 Fall
12 Welcome To The Real World
13 Cold Black Tea

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