Eh...

Nation: United States

Album Genre: Heavy Metal/Neo-Thrash

As a fan of Flotsam and Jetsam 's Doomsday For the Deceiver and No Place For Disgrace , two albums full of thrashy power metal, I have been constantly looking for Flotz material that I enjoy listening to after their first few albums, and for me, it has often been hit or miss. Following No Place For Disgrace , the band took a more experimental approach with their third album leaving their pure unadulterated thrashiness behind upon each new album. Some albums have their own feel and are indicative of quality musicianship, but much like their thrash counterparts, Voivod and Annihilator , experimenting with the music often leads to alienation and just simply bad sounding music.

Dreams of Death , the band's 9th studio album, unfortunately is a continuance of the path of uninspired creativity. What the hell does that mean you may be asking yourself; well, its quite simple. Dreams of Death represents an attempt at creative progressivism, yet to the neutral ear it is merely a poor below average metal album attempting to be something it is not; a shell of what it represents itself as.

Flotsam and Jetsam, created by legendary bassist Jason Newsted before he went on to fame and fortune with the Metallica troupe, had in his hands two magnificent pieces of musical craftsmanship with an original vocalist and some great thrash riffs that challenged many of the Bay Area bands. These thrashers from Arizona were inspired metal musicians looking to "tear shit up" with rebellious lyrics and crazy chords. When you compare the storied beginnings of Flots to the new experimental version we hear in 2005, its hard to recognize the same band. Dreams of Death is a perfect example of why somes bands should stick to their path they originally set out on. Basically, Dreams of Death is a boring, uninspired, repetitive attempt at a progressive heavy metal album.

I acknowledge the creative spirit of Flots (as with any musician), but sometimes listening to your fanbase and understanding what they want is key. If the creative minds of Flots wanted to move in the direction back at the end of the 20th century, they should have called it quits with Flotsam and Jetsam and formed a new heavy metal act that would have garnered more respect as it would have been built on its own merits, rather than relying on the hopeful spirits of all Flotsam fans hoping for the next thrash opus.

Positives: KILLER riff on Childhood Hero following the soft intro. Great riff, not so great vocals, but definitely the most original songwriting on the album. If the rest of the album had the catchiness of this tune, it might have succeeded. Unfortunately, the spirit of old school Flots is apparently no longer a reality.

It's possible that the fans of newer Flots will enjoy this album, but all I hear is a slab of bad production, horrible vocals, and a lackluster creative spirit. Give me back the Flots that I love!

(Originally written for www.metalreviews.com)