Album Review: Ebonivory – The Long Dream I (Wild Thing Records)

Up-and-coming Australian prog prodigies Ebonivory return with their new record The Long Dream I, released 5th June via Wild Thing Records.

Formed in 2014 by prodigious composer, multi-instrumentalist and lead vocalist Charlie Powlett, this world class 5-piece ensemble employs a unique distillation of alternative rock and progressive metal.

When you hear progressive metal, you expect complex depths. Music that will challenge and confound yet still amaze in some way or another. Be it the admiration of eclectic rhythm and unique passages, the thrill of the beat as it buoys the mind and soul or the heavy scorn that pours from select notes

That’s progressive metal but more importantly that’s Ebonivory and their highly impressive new album, The Long Dream I. A thrill-ride that is 13 tracks and around about an hour long.

Fear not, you won’t get bored even if progressive sounds have never been your thing. Simply because this band deliver more, way more than what you could ever expect. Heart-felt at times, dark at others, dreamy elsewhere and most importantly, constantly challenging.

It’s an album that should be enjoyed as a complete thing but if you really must hear some individual tracks then Persist, A Colour I’m Blind To and Window Man are three outstanding tracks on an album that is outstanding from beginning to end.

If you’re not head-banging furiously, you’ll be mesmerised by the prettiness or the melodies. Any attempt to preempt what might come next is futile. Ebonivory are a band brimming with ideas and The Long Dream I is the triumphant result of those ideas coming to fruition.

Ebonivory – The Long Dream I Full Track Listing:

1. Introduction
2. Hanmer Street
3. Persist
4. Patting the Black Dog
5. Cats
6. A Colour I’m Blind To
7. Sea Lions
8. In Reverie
9. Window Man
10. Explosions After Dark
11. Tales of Termina
12. The Bluegums
13. Introvection

Links

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