The Dream Is Dead

Letter Of Resignation (2002)

Rob Paxon

What have we here? The debut EP from The Dream Is Dead, which features former members of Sutek Conspiracy, Burn It Down, and Harikari; five songs in around eleven minutes of thrashy, hardcore goodness. If any of this sounds remotely appealing, I have no doubt you'll dig this EP. Breakneck drumming plays a big role in the monster rhythms featured throughout this album. Bursting fits of guitar and greatly fitting vocals layer over the rhythms, making for some fine music.

The first track, "The Great Recline (Armchair Revolutionaries Unite!)", starts out with a quote from Goonies (when they find the money in the well ["these are somebody else's wishes; they're someone else's dreams" "but this one was my wish", etc]), so you know it is good. The highlight of this track is the relentless drumming and how it compliments the rest of the song. The lyrics here focus on "the scene", and as you can see they are quite good: "This is your warning. Notice has now been served. To this artificial social construct that passes for our scene. We are under fucking siege. No more punk rock illusions. THE DREAM IS FUCKING DEAD…Only one foredrawn conclusion: It's all rotten to the core. Load up on guns, bring your friends, and let's kick this motherfucker down."

Track three is another really good song, both musically and lyrically. The guitar playing here is at its peak on the album. Their website says that this song was written for friends of theirs in Cuba and therefore the lyrics are from that perspective. "Kiss the ring on this hand of treachery, join the victims in their line. They're gone, they're dead…They came for them in the night because they dared to speak their minds. This evil flourishes because good people do nothing. […] Because ideas are more dangerous than guns and if we can not have guns, why should we be allowed ideas?"

This disc ends with a great cover of my favorite Poison Idea song, "Just To Get Away". They do a pretty damn good job of capturing its original power. The vocals on the second half of the cover are credited in the insert to "Fat Sammy", who sounds like a mixture of Fat Albert and Poison Idea vocalist Jerry A. In other words, he sounds cool as shit. I wonder if the dude has a band of his own because I'd be down with them, fo' shizzle.

Oh, the art for this album is rad as hell, as you can plainly see (though my copy is soiled with a promo stamp :/ ) It was made by the famous Shepard Fairey, who caused a stir of almost mythical proportions with his "OBEY GIANT" shtick.

If you at all liked the three bands that these guys came from the ashes of, or any of the neo-hardcore (excluding whine/scream bands like Poison The Well; that's not what this is), you should definitely check this out. I'm sure there will be plenty to come from The Dream Is Dead in the future.

Review from us fine lads over at Mediaocre Industries. Come cyberchill with us, dogg.