Rough Dreams "Disappear. Reappear." Album Review
So it's been a good long while since we've done a album review on review on the website but I was too excited for this release to not do it do it so here we go.
On September 24th, 2021, the band Rough Dreams, out of Knoxville, TN, released their new full length album titled "Disappear. Reappear." When I tell you that I was excited for this, it would be an understatement. I heard about this band about a year ago cruising through a Myspace revival site called Spacehey. The way they described themselves was what I was looking for in music at the time so perfectly. A spaced out emo rock band, looking to bring back that mid-late 2000's Myspace aesthetic. Going into this, I was thinking as long as they kept their previous sound, I was going to be all about this new record.
A BANGER right from the beginning. After a small instrumental intro, the 2nd track, and 1st official song of the album, is a piece called "Disappear". The guitars sounded good, the lyrics were great, the drumming matched well with everything and the mixing was crisp. I felt it went on a little long but other than that it was a strong start to the album.
The next song is "Cursed at the Sun", which is one of two singles on this album. It had great energy and reminded me of a more pop punk version of Senses Fail. Instrumentally it is pop punk AF and the vocal the embodiment of mid 2000s emo. This was easily my favorite song off of the album.
There isn't too much to say about the 4th track other than the guitar tone and style reminded me of the band Switchfoot. Which I hadn't really thought about up until listening to that song But regardless of what sort of obscure Christian rock band it reminded me of it did a really good job fading into the next song "Desert Ghosts".
Now this is probably the song I have the most to say about. Other than keeping similar vibes to the last song (switchfoot style guitars at times) Is they throwing a whole lot more with this one. At times I got shades of Bad Religion as well as the band Rancid. Which isn't a bad thing by any means because I love those 2 bands dearly. They managed to sound like 3 other bands during the course of this nearly 4 minute long song while still sounding like themselves. I was really intrigued listening to this one and it got me really excited to figure out what the next song sounds like and it did not disappoint.
As soon as the 6th track of the album "Challenger86" starts I immediately fell in love. This is the most myspace era emo band sound that I've heard up until this point and it was great. The Senses Fail sound is back, there's shades of some Hawthorn Heights thrown in there and I even think my ears picked up a slight Taking Back Sunday harmony and there at a few points.
I don't know if I was just so jazzed up for "Challenger86" that the other songs didn't live up to the hype or or if I just didn't like the other 2 songs but they did nothing for me. I can't really say anything negative about them because they weren't badly done but in comparison to the song that I was really hyped about nothing really stood out. I was starting to feel like v it was going to be a 3 song stretch that That was going to leave me rather apathetic In comparison to the other songs but in the track "Falling Stars" there are a few spots for the bass really pops Especially at the 2 and a 1/2 minute mark the bass moves to the forefront and an overwhelming Bouncing Souls vibe takes over and it immediately caught my attention once again I was back in the race.
"Past Lives" is probably the most pure rock and roll sounding song on the album but in all honestly It's probably my least favorite track of the entire thing. I'm not saying that it's a bad song because they did it very well but it didn't have the same energy or emo / post hardcore influence that were very apparent in previous songs. Which was what drew me to Rough Dreams to start with but after a small dry spell my full attention was brought back with track 10.
"Reappear" their last actual track before the outro. Similar to the beginning of the album when I was hearing all these bands influences on Rough Dreams the last track brought a few more to my brain. There was essence of Armor For Sleep, Thrice and possibly even Matchbook Romance. This was the perfect blend of the Emo vibe I loved with the pure rock sound they pull off so well. This song was a great ender to the album as it tied in a little bit of all vibes and styles of the other songs and they found a way to make em all fit in this nearly 6 minute song and it transitioned flawlessly to the end transmission style outro to this whole 11 song journey.
I would definitely recommend this album to so many people. Nostalgia was at an all time high during this whole thing even though the songs are brand spanking new. Rough Dreams did it again. If I had to rate it on the Bands That Slap scale. Rough Dreams walked away with a solid B but upon more listens I'm sure I'll warm up to the other songs.
Links
https://open.spotify.com/album/70Z0Ywk7GGboPG6N0AeYg7?si=OAxEwgE3RLWihhYuL3ceEw&dl_branch=1
https://www.facebook.com/roughdreams
Rough Dreams, Saves The Day, Myspace, Thrice, Bouncing Souls, Aiden, New Found Glory, Senses Fail, Matchbook Romance, Just Plain Filthy, Bands That Slap