I would like to introduce you to one of Norway's most bizarre and experimental bands: DREAMARCHER. Hailing from Oslo, the band released their debut full length self-titled album in late 2016.  Describing their sound won't be easy, I'll be honest, but listening to this album has been a truly amazing experience. (so I am warning all of you).

The first track "Beat Them Hollow", starts with a massive, heavy, crushing drone/doom riff, which gets repeated a few times throughout the beginning before leading us to conclude that this band has some influences of SUNN O))) in their sound; and that's already a reason to like them.  Alongside the drone and doom riffs, you can hear creepy noises that perfectly resemble the darkness that this album contains within itself. The first song also features some interesting human talking, covered by slow, dark, and melancholic riffs.

The album continues with the second track "Impending Doom", and this one starts with a more uprising riff, sharp drum intros and almost pop-like clean vocals(?) - which is interesting to hear after the harsh, growling ones in the first song. The clean vocals are actually really enjoyable and have a nice Heavy Metal vibe, which kind of reminds me of the recent GHOST material. Around the second minute mark, brutal and nasty Hardcore-influenced Black Metal screams kick in alongside the brutal blast-beats before another switch in the sound occurs and the cleans just howl and contribute a nice opera-sounding vibe alongside the slow bass lines that follow it. This whole ''pretty'' atmosphere gets crushed by riffs once again, sounding very nasty, and they usually are drone, doom, or more like Hardcore, Punk influences Black Metal riffs. In short, a lot of genres can be heard on this record; we are talking about Norway after all.

 "Burning The Remains" is the third song on the album, and it starts off quite melodically and happily, with beautiful melodies and audible, loud bass lines. The beginning is instrumental, but around the first minute mark, the beautiful, fully understandable clean vocals kick in. Later they speed up and get louder, becoming mixed with the harsh screams of the band's vocalist. Some of the Black Metal vocals on this track reminded me of SILENCER; full screams and not too much focus on the growls. The cleans, however, at time reminded me of MASTODON, which is a pretty unique combination, if you ask me.

The fourth track "Close Your Eyes", has some weird, but heavy riffs; characteristic of the classic Metal genres. The vocals on this track are incredible and really catchy, with the riffs perfectly following the flow of the whole thing. The bass is beautiful and the drums are perfectly balanced - not too loud but with a formidable presence. This is my absolute favourite track on the record, and not just because of the vocals (those too, of course) but also because of the whole atmosphere. There are the classic, southern-sounding riffs, the overall dark yet melancholic sound in general and all those sudden changes in the vocal work - from the nasty sounding screams to the beautiful cleans.

The last (but not least important) track is "Shadows". This one has the fastest riffs on the whole album, at least until the first half of the song, when everything falls as soon as the pure, noisy, drone riff strikes. Some of the earlier riffs were more "melodic" but this one is just relentless and merciless; it simply kills the happiness off with a strike, going on until the end of the album, and I find that a cool way to end it.

This album might be short, but if won't feel that way; it will keep your attention (if you are into slower things, of course). If you like Noise, Drone, Doom, Black Metal, Hardcore, even Metalcore, or way better, ALL mixed together, give this album a listen (maybe two!) and you're definitely going to enjoy it as much as I did.