AKHLYS is a Dark Ambient/Black Metal band based out of the United States. Formed in 2009, the band had released one previous full length album. "The Dreaming I" is the band's second, and contains five track. There is a long and sinister set-up in the nine-minute opening track "Breath and Levitation." When the instrumentation and vocals hit, they hit hard, with that familiar wall of sound that you have come to expect with Black Metal. There is an element of darkness, of pitch back nothingness, like there is no escaping its hold on you. "Tides of Oneiric Darkness" is a little shorter, but wastes no time coming at you like a swarm of insects in the sky, blackening the light and engulfing everything in their path. Anguished lamentations pour from the vocals and the steady, plodding percussion keeps the rhythm going strong and fast. Demonic background vocals assure you that there are no white and fluffy clouds anywhere in sight. "Consumation" is by far the longest song on the album, clocking in at just under seventeen minutes. Ambience builds at the beginning, setting the tone. Swirls of cold wind come and go, surrounding you from every direction, coming to life as ghosts before disappearing once more. When the main sound hits, it is ominous, brooding and frightening, reminding me of a horror movie soundtrack. It is straight up torturous to your soul. The title track, "The Dreaming Eye," is ten minutes long. There is another long lead in to the pure agony that follows. Once again they have done a superb job of creating that air of evil that is so present here on this album. The closing instrumental "Into the Indigo Abyss" is only four minutes long. Rather than another large punch to your senses, this track bubbles under the surface, making just enough presence known to keep the suspense alive. Though this is Black Metal in every sense of the definition, I feel a larger power present on this album than I have with others in the genre. It doesn't get more real, more alive and more sinister than this.