Bedsore – Dreaming The Strife For Love
Release Date: 29th November 2024
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Rock, Death Metal.
FFO: Blood Incantation, King Crimson, Horrendous, Aetheria Conscientia.
Review By: Eric Wilt
With everyone talking about the way Blood Incantation’s new album blends progressive rock with death metal, there’s a chance that Bedsore’s new album, Dreaming the Strife for Love, won’t get the attention it deserves for doing the same thing. The only difference between Blood Incantation and Bedsore, is while Blood Incantation was releasing an album of very non-death metal soundscapes, Bedsore was already incorporating progressive rock into death metal. Now, I don’t want to get into a shoving match between Blood Incantation and Bedsore because I love both bands, but I think it would be a shame if Dreaming the Strife for Love went overlooked or underappreciated because of the proximity of its release to Blood Incantation’s.
Unsurprisingly, progressive rock is the perfect compliment to complex death metal, as Bedsore proved on their debut release for 20 Buck Spin, Hypnagogic Hallucinations. Now, on Dreaming the Strife for Love, Bedsore is doubling down on their progressive rock sections while blending the two styles together even more seamlessly than they did before. Take Scars of Light for example. Bedsore throws everything into this song, from keyboards, mellotrons, and organs to horns, distorted guitars, and anguished growls. Also in this song, as in many of the others, Bedsore juxtaposes light and dark, silence and cacophony, creating a song that ebbs and flows with the theme of the album which is based on a mysterious Renaissance era book called Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
There is much on this album for fans of progressive rock (especially 70s era prog rock) and death metal alike. Although I am not sure how it was recorded, Dreaming the Strife for Love has that warm sonic feel that sounds like it was recorded to tape instead of being digitally recorded. It’s the kind of album that will sound exceptional on vinyl.
I’m not going to try to take anything away from Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere; it’s an amazing album, but Dreaming the Strife for Love by Bedsore is too. And even though Blood Incantation makes good use of progressive rock on the album, Bedsore utilizes progressive rock even more, incorporating numerous instruments and progressive influences, resulting in a superb listening experience where the old and new come together impeccably.
(4.5 / 5)
