24. March 2025
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Media Review

Dreamshade – A Pale Blue Dot

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Dreamshade - A Pale Blue Dot

Dreamshade - A Pale Blue Dot
4.5

Rating

 4.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very nice metalcore recording
  • Balanced mixture of musical elements
  • Very entertaining album, which does not get boring

Metalcore made in Switzerland: Dreamshade are doing music since 2006. On 5th March 2021, they will release their fourth album A Pale Blue Dot. As I could pre-listen to the album, I am able to share my thoughts with you.

Dreamshade – About The Artists

Dreamshade formed in Lugano in Ticino (Southern Italian speaking part of Switzerland) in 2006. The founding members were Fernando “Felia” Di Cicco and Rocco Ghelmini, who are still guitarists of the band. Nowadays, the band is a quintet with singer Kevin Cali, Gian-Andrea Costa on the bass and drummer Serafino “Sera” Chiommino. After a 2008 EP (To The Edge of Reality), the band released their debut album What Silence Hides in 2011. This album and the following one, The Gift of Life (2013), had a couple of songs which have been popular in the metalcore scene. Their latest album release is about five years old: Vibrant (2016) lead to a quite successful global tour. The first A Pale Blue Dot single was Question Everything in 2019.

 

Dreamshade – A Pale Blue Dot – Track by Track

The fourteen track album lasts 52 minutes.

1. Safe Harbour

The album starts with with what metalcore is all about: shouting, melodic parts and – of course – metal elements. Safe Harbour is a good starter into A Pale Blue Dot, which is already showcasing the versatility of the band and the genre.

2. Lightbringers

After that warm-up and showcase “Sera” Chiommino has a vast opportunity to torment his drumkit. Especially at the beginning, Lightbringers starts very rhythmic and up-tempo, so that quick feet and hands are necessary. The track is however alsmost fading towards the end, so that the drummer does not have a that hard time – especially as the song is the second-longest on the album.

When all you see is misery
Remember you’re not alone
I will give you energy
To face the Unknown
Whenever you feel desperate
Remember you’re not alone
I will give you energy
To face the Unknown

3. Question Everything

Question Everything starts with spoken word, hip-hop alike parts before the band is composing powerful melodic and other parts into the song. Dreamshade produce metalcore for everyone – you may bang your head to the music, but if you are afraid of guitar-praising guys with long hair, it is still soft enough that you may dare a listen.

4. Step Back

If you need an early indicator that this album could be awesome, Step Back might be the right candidate: especially the catchy sing-a-long chorus makes you keep this one in your mind. Step Back is really no single publication so far? Hard to believe – just an awesome track.

5. Stone Cold Digital (feat. Rose Villain)

For the fifth track, Stone Cold Digital, Dreamshade pair up with the Milan rapper Rose Villain. This leads to one of the most modern-sounding and catching track of the whole album. Cool collaboration.

6. Impulse

Impulse reminds me of Step Back. Again, powerful elements alter with rather quiet moments, before the guitars are powering riffs and the vocals take control again. Metalcore at a really fine level.

7. toD-eulB-elaP-(A)

Is that somehow the title track of the album? The 1:52 minute (almost) instrumental episode feels like a short break in the middle of the album.

8. Shanghai Nights

I want you to know
we’ll never be divided even when I’m gone.
Oh, don’t you feel lonely.
I know it’s hard to say goodbye…
(…to Shanghai Nights)

One of the tracks Dreamshade chose as a single release before the album. When I listened to the Shanghai Nights, I first thought, “Now this is too hard for my taste of metalcore” – but then the next chorus with its incredible vocal and melodic presence catches me again. Just cannot say no to this album.

9. Elephant

The Elephant is the mammoth of the album – at least duration-wise. The song is quite close to the five minute milestone. The very characteristic element is the almost frisky-sounding guitar solo at about the middle of the song. Not too long thereafter, the instruments all suddenly and allow to fully focus on the lyrics. There are many of these suprisies in this album. Most of them make me smile.

10. Somewhere Else

Somewhere Else has a lot of strong keyboard parts, but also again come with powerful polyphonic vocals and strong riffs. Nice.

11. On My Own

‘Cause I don’t care if everything around me falls apart
If all you think about me stays untouched
You should have known it all right from the start
I’m on my own

Again, the album is based on a very catchy chorus – but in On My Own the shouting vocals feel to emphasize the power initiated by the guitars as well. One of the best songs of the album, indeed.

12. Nothing But The Truth (feat. John Henry from Darkest Hour)

While I – surprisingly – enjoyed the collaboration with rapper Rose Villain at Stone Cold Digital, this song with John Blakemore Henry from the Washington metalcore legends Darkest Hour is not that standing out to me. The legendary lead of the US band simply does not add that much to the song. This does not diminish his performance at all – Dreamshade are just doing that well on their 2021 publication that it is even harder to make their sound better.

13. A Place We Called Home

A Place We Called Home has significantly more hip-hop / rap alike elements than practically all songs on the album (apart from Step Back). It is another great vocal performance, which is having a lot of melodic parts in contrast to the rap / hip hop one.

14. Save This

The album closes with Save This, which is another song with airplay potential in rock music radio stations. Good one.

 

Dreamshade – A Pale Blue Dot – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Dreamshade – A Pale Blue Dot – My View

I have to admit that I do not like the electric and distorted touch of metalcore too much. I rather go for softer tunes or also very pure metal genres like Death Metal. The more I was surprised that I just enjoyed to listen to the sound of Dreamshade. The reason is too simple: these guys do a really good job – and compose the different elements of their songs to a compact, fluent, versatle and never boring mixture. This is how you do a great album.

 

 

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