Reviewed - 08/10/05

Dreams of Death
[Crash Music]

Okay, I am officially sick and tired of bands and their labels proclaiming that a band's new album is going to be in a style "back to their roots". It's been said many times before but very few times has it actually turned out that way. Annihilator comes to mind when I think about this being said by a band recently. Jeff Waters hyped up the album ("All For You") as a return to the "Alice In Hell" style, and even said he was practicing to get "His chops back" so he could play fast again. But when one listens to that Radio Rock album, you either think Jeff outright lied, or he suckered you into buying the album. This is exactly the case with Flotsam And Jetsam's newest album "Dreams Of Death".

Right on the promo papers it proudly says "Flotsam And Jetsam have gone back to their roots..." If you, as a fan of the band's early two albums read this, don't believe it. It's an outright lie and should never be attached to this album in any way as a "selling point". The music here is a bit Thrashy at times, but it is just too dull, slow, polished and downright boring. There's also too many modern Corporate Metal influences here for me to like this much at all. This album is about as much of a return to their roots as Metallica's "St. Anger" was a return to their roots, and is more in line with trying to gain Headbanger's Ball airplay. Flotsam And Jetsam have always been one of those bands (there are many) that I've hated almost everything they've put out, but I love one album of theirs. Of course I'm talking about the mighty "Doomsday For The Deceiver", which was one of the best albums to come out in the 1980's. "No Place For Disgrace" is really good too, but not nearly as good as the debut, and every album after that is pure crap in my opinion. If they think "Dreams Of Death" is a return to the sound of "Doomsday For The Deceiver", they're on some heavy duty drugs or they just have no problem lying their way into selling more albums and creating a buzz. This whole "returning to their roots" statement may be all the label's fault though and may not have ever been said by the band, I don't know. And quite frankly, I don't care.

Eric A.K.'s vocals on "Doomsday For The Deceiver" and to a bit of a lesser extent on "No Place To Disgrace", were outstanding. He had a powerful Thrash voice that really took off in intensity when he pushed himself and tried to hit the higher notes. He had a style that made him sound like he was... squealing or something. He truly had a sound of his own, that's for sure. His vocals on this new album though, just as with his vocals on all of their albums of the last decade and a half, are very mundane, monotonous and bland. If I hadn't seen the band member list for this album, I wouldn't have even known this was Eric singing at all. He's more of a rock singer now. I'm sure some people will eat this right up, but it's not for me! I can't comment on the lyrical content as the lyrics were not included with the promo.

The production doesn't help this album out at all. If you've read even a few of my reviews you'll notice how I'm always ragging on bands if they have shitty productions. A great production is one of the best things a band can have in my opinion. But every once in a while, like on "Dreams Of Death", the production is so overdone that the album sounds sterile and squeaky clean. The music on the album is mellow enough without having this Corporate Rock styled production.

The album cover art is really well done, and is about the only thing I like about the album. It shows a graveyard scene with a ghostly image coming through one of the tombstones. It's pretty neat for a computer generated image (I tend to like hand-drawn art better). Unfortunately, since the promo didn't come with anything aside from the cover art, I can't comment on what may or may not be in the lyric booklet. The C.D. itself has the old Flotsam And Jetsam logo printed on it. Yet another "Deceiving" thing to make you think this album is like an album from their great past.

If you've never heard Flotsam And Jetsam before, just go out and get "Doomsday For The Deceiver" and "No Place For Disgrace" and you'll have everything in their discography that's any good. Leave "Dreams Of Death" on the record store or distro shelves. It's better to have them wasting their shelf space than you wasting any space in your house at all for this sorry excuse of an album.