17.09.2005 
no coming home
dead end hero
speed my drug
cure my pain
weakness
sad song
so many voices
sick one
she's wild
drink myself to sleep
all about nothing
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END OF GREEN: "Dead End Dreaming" end of green dead-end-dreaming Silverdust Records
Produced, recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Alex Krull at Mastersound Studio, Stuttgart/Fellbach
Assistant record engineers Mathias Röderer and Thorsten Bauer
Promoted by Focusion.de
review by dalia "gryphon_spirit" di giacomo____
| I think that End of Green still must complete their personality and should dare more |
In spite of the quite massive speaking, above all in Germany, around "Dead End Dreaming", i cannot completely join the chorus of praises. Not completely, only in part. In my opinion this album is yes pleasing, all in all it is an agreeable album, but still far from being an unconditional success. On the other hand, "Dead End Dreaming" represents, without a doubt, an important step forwards for the band, and it is a disc i suggest to all who like some alternative/goth rock with both lively and depressive aspects, sustained by that catchiness and mark ŕ la Prime STH, but also some catatonic metal tension. If it's true that End of Green's style is called "depressive subcore", it is even more true that this album hides an intrinsic psychological coldness, even if many songs are really catchy , rocking, dynamic and/or persuasively cadenced, like Speed my Drug and Cure my Pain. This real coldness is not only an essential part of the outfit and image of End Of Green but it is exalted through the production in the hands of Mr. Alexander Krull at Mastersound Studio, a production that is so perfect at a point that too much perfection skim over sterileness. End of Green seem to play in a perfect disinfected vacuum, each instrument is well underlined nonetheless seems to swim or to fly in a total emptiness. Maybe this was the intention, cause "Dead End Dreaming" is much more surreal and introspective than a superficial listening could let us suppose. Anyway, there are 2 instrumental excellent aspects in this album, aspects that producer Alex Krull has very wisely enhanced and underlined: the first aspect is the wonderful bass, the second aspect is the very particular lead that is so cutting and blood spreading even if doesn't seem. Often the lead guitar starts from lower and downtuned sounds, emerging from almost subliminal thresholds, in order to appear then obscurely weeping and digging inside of you. What i don't like that much are vocals. Though varied, ranging from bass tones to "normal" clean, they are not very exciting. The rare bass timbres are the most interesting ones, to tell the truth, at times also sensual, but when you think that they sound too much as a mix of The 69 Eyes and TON, you then cannot completely surrender to them, cause they are no longer that original, on the contrary they even seem a bit forced.
Concerning the tracks, "Dead End Dreaming" delivers everything in joy and disappointment: there are fillers, there are interesting nice songs and there are 4 very good songs that could be really awesome jewels if only played with much more determination and force. Let's begin immeditaely listing those 4 (potentially) brilliant songs: CURE MY PAIN, SAD SONG, DRINK MYSELF TO SLEEP, ALL ABOUT NOTHING.
I write them in capital letters, almost shouting the titles. If this album would offer all songs of the same calibre, and all played in more cruel form we would have had the possibility to shout at a album of finest in astonishment. Sad Song combines malicious catchiness with suffered melancholia and a drop of Prime STH attitude indeed; Cure my Pain is more original and has a mighty temperament laying down at the window of metal. All about Nothing is very introspective, a bit catatonic, nihilistic, a solitary wolf, a song that begins slowly and goes unstoppable towards a beautiful suffered climax, developed over the same initial phrases which become then more and more haunting. All about Nothing provides fabulous harmonic guitar lines, sad yet menacing and desperate , elegant and unhappy, a song of class, that lets understand how full of maturity this combo from Stuttgart could or can be. While Cure my Pain lets understand how much imposing End Of Green could be.So, why remaining "somewhere" between gothic rock and alternative, when they could dare much more? Finally, the groovy and suggestive Drink myself to Sleep fully portraits the depressive and disillusioned spirit of the band with strength, energy and will.
No coming Home is a good and intense opener, a remarkable track that, with Speed my Drug and Weakness, belongs to that group of nice songs that have a good presence and meaning. Speed my Drug has a great rock temperament and an energetic pushing rhythm. On the contrary The "famous" Dead End Hero is, in my opinion, just a commercial and pop flavoured creature. Not far from that level is So many Voices, that pretends to be sick and psyched but i find it easy and boringly repetitive, a filler . Sick One could have been far better: in spite of of some good passages and starting points si immisericsce here and there, pity. She's wild comes out banal, another filler for me .
I think that End of Green still must complete their personality and should dare more, but if you like or need alternative goth rock with sprays of metal, if you need effective stuff with good riffs and melancholic yet intense windows that look at your ego, if you need some dark , enough pushing but not extreme stuff for party time, driving, meditations, chillinl out, or simply for drinking yourself to a quite sleep of blood and (un)resisting acceptance, "Dead End Dreaming" will provide some charming intimate moments.
rating: 7.6/10
dalia
di giacomo 
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