In this Moment - The Dream Review
by Dawn Marie Fichera
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Fronted by lead singer Maria Brink and supported by Chris Howorth, lead guitar, Blake Bunzel, guitar, Jesse Landry, bass, Jeff Fabs, drums. The Dream, sophomore album was released on September 30, 2008. It was recorded at The Wolves Den in Las Vegas.
For starters, anybody who can tour with Ozzy, Rob Zombie, and Megadeth are ok in my book. Secondly, Maria Brink can sing. Her strength and vocal command is laudable. She has an irrefutable, seemingly endless capacity to fill her lungs and exhale mesmerizing, seductive vocals that seem to snake around your neck and choke the breath out of you. Words like 'tormented soul' float on my brain. Brink combines the grit and determination of Pat Benatar, with seductive, romantic ballads a la Roxette interspersed with the melodic, haunting vocal quality of Amy Lee of Evanescence.
Overall, Brink's lyricism is brilliant; poetry in chaotic motion if you will. When I first popped in the album by In this Moment, I was prepared for a metalcore raucous punch in the visceral gut. What welcomed me were 11 tracks of mature, controlled, lyrical, almost dreamlike vocals wrapped up in a warm glow of pain. Brink brings confidence and defiance to her music well past her years, seemingly carried on the wings of angels, so the prick and sting of her words are soothed by the sticky balm of her supporting band mates. In fact, the guitar and drum tracks are so good they almost escape being noticed. Almost.
I can't help but to continually replay "Her Kiss." The intensity of "Her Kiss" is breathless, at times beautiful and others twisting and turning into an unknown darkness with a sweet promise of salvation and release. Brink's impossibly sustained voice and vocal range are truly tested and vacillate between low melodrama and a guttural outpouring of emotion. Not so sold on the dramatic screeching mind you that appears rather uncomfortably in the track. I will say unabashedly I love "Into the Light." It represents Brink's best quality- her mesmerizing ability to deliver a narrative in beautiful, pure lightness. The melancholy voice of the piano adds a dimension of depth and structure to the track. "You Always Believed" has a deeply personal, almost confessional tone to it, and I wonder who it was written for.
The Dream has its moments where familiarity and predictability threatens. Highly acclaimed and respected engineer and producer Kevin Churko, noted for his work with such luminaries as Shania, Ozzy, Ringo Starr, Lisa Marie Presley and Britney, produced The Dream. My only beef is that parts of the album come off almost too perfect. It is a delicate balance between raw intensity and being over-mixed as "Violet Skies" would suggest to me. The Dream teeters precipitously between both worlds, bringing the listener into spasms of both euphoria and exasperation. If that seems like an oxymoron, it is. The same way Brink's virtuous voice turns wickedly poisonous as the shrieks and screams peppered in track "The Great Divide," become almost unbearable. At times, her deep, soul-felt, hardedged, lung-breaking screams are uncomfortable, forced even. But hey, you may like that.
The follow-up album to the 2007, release, Beautiful Tragedy, does not disappoint. The Dream is precariously poised between pleasure and pain, with Maria Brink's voice hypnotizing the listener in an angelic, ethereal promise. I recommend sitting through a few songs first, then switching it up to something more uplifting before plunging into the depths of her old soul. The album is as exhausting as it is liberating.
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In this Moment - The Dream
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