We have Metal from down under today. Is it really Metal? DREAMWORM is a single guy project and his name is Tom Lee Christen. He sings, plays guitar, composes and produces his own thing. Then he calls a group of friends to play his vision with him on live performances and perhaps some recordings as well. This is a one man project and the result was the 4 track EP called The Journey. The artist describes the sound as an alternative Rock in his website. Let’s see how alternative it is. We start our short journey with “Dissolve” and I can say it does not sound alternative at all. It does not mean that this is bad, but the information on the website does not match much with the sound.

I would describe it as a well played heavy metal with a reasonable variety of riffs and moods. “ Lightspeed'' is next and you will notice that the vocal style is much softer despite the heaviness in the background. I understand the style, but I believe despite being a serviceable singer, Tom Lee Christen may not be the ideal voice as the songs could get an upgrade on the vocal performance. Something above the average of a regular vocal performance. Something to compare with the level of the musicianship that is being displayed as it seems that the vocal is weak. Some tunes sound a little too metal pop to my taste like the third one “Lost”. The song is a completely video game soundtrack  that mixes keyboards and then guttural vocals and that did not appeal to me. I think I can understand the proposal here but I am not convinced how metal this can be. This song is the first with a guitar solo and it is a good one, but the overall package is too soft and soulless for me. Where is the hook?

We end our short journey with “Tranceform” and for me is the best of the bunch despite not being much memorable at all. The vocal is too weak and soft and it does not mark its presence again. A real capable singer that can add some vocal dexterity and hit us with some screams would greatly help to propel the sound as it will match the heavy instrumental proposed. Guitar players of the word forgive me, but a good vocal is essential. Once again, nothing is out of tune with the vocal performance, just missing that impact that above the average singers can make. I understand that there is a market for this type of music as the youngest generation seems to like it. My daughter does. However, in my opinion, an artist has to cause an impact with their music and make it memorable at first listen. The way the music is consumed today is way different that it was before. We use to keep our music like little jewels that could be revisited anytime our soul needed a fixing. It does not happen much nowadays, Unfortunately, I found The Journey too generic and souless despite the good musicianship.