This album was a surprise. Labelled as experimental, VIOLET COLD's "Desperate Dreams" is a perky drumtastic extravaganza courtesy of the sole band member Emin Guliyev.

This is foreign territory for me, the boundaries of my knowledge of this space of music end at the prog genius of Gru with his incredible "Cosmogenesis". There are little nods towards that direction on "Desperate Dreams" making this a slightly less alien experience, however, I cannot overstate just how peppy this album is. If you were to take an angsty screamo metal singer and throw them in a blender with an entire rave, along with just a squeeze of John Petrucci essence, you might see something a little like this.

Valiant smatterings of joyous keyboard help make this album a confusing juxtaposition. I have to say at this point, it's touching me in places that have never been touched before. The track "Desperate Dreams" is like salted caramel.  It was wrong until I realised it was just different, and that I like this different, and suddenly it's delicious as hell. The only thing I can relate this album to in real life is a superb acid trip. The walls are moss and you want to lick them and you are overcome with the feels, the entire rainbow of them. "Endless Journey" is another track that yields the same response.

I could tell you more about the music, but I don't want to dissect it. It's beautiful as it is whole. The mix is very measured, everything is very purposeful and it is clear that the end product was a very decisive intention. "Desperate Dreams" is a surprising delight and VIOLET COLD is the exact reason I am forever grateful that musicians are out there independently making their oddball music. It has character and substance, it's different and quirky and while creatives sometimes live hard lives, they give us these precious insightful gifts.

In short, I'm not going to tell you that you will like this, but I will say that it's worth a listen to see if you do.