CD Reviews
Dryland - Deal With the Devil
Dryland - Deal With the Devil
Blood Rite Records, Berlin
2018
Dryland is one of the Gothic Rock bands that carries the legacy of the late 90's gothic rock scene.
Dryland formed back in 1997 and throughout the years had a number of changes in band members. After their first release "Gothic Tales" back in 2004, band members decided to put the project on hold. Until 2016 when they got back together and started creating music again. Despite this huge break, Dryland's sound remained in the pure gothic rock paths reminding the gothic sound of this really productive period for gothic rockers, late 90's.
"Deal With the Devil" stands right there. Bringing back all these good memories. Memories of a beautiful, emotional and powerful sound, lyrics and vocals. These 14 years since their previous release make the band really mature and that is obvious in the new album.
Starting with "A Curse" someone can listen to specific influences like that of The 69 Eyes. Gothic guitar riffs that reminds of the early 00's releases of goth-glam rockers from Finland. Along with "Black Hearted Girl" Dryland give us a powerful gothic appetizer of what comes next. "Lady of Death" sounds more atmospheric with a nice dark mood. In "Nighttrain" there is speed ride in a gothic night, while in "Matala" there is a Greek vocal sample in the beginning which is really interesting while the song is one of the album's highlights clearly reminding some of the great goth rock songs of the past. "Black Angel"'s sound is equal to the 2 first tracks of the album with strong guitars melodies. Next track is "Goth Rock's Not Dead" in which someone could have an overview and explanation of gothic rock and why it is not dead. I believe someone could understand what goth rock is while listening to other tracks and not specifically this one. "Fading Love" is probably the darkest moment of the "Deal With the Devil". Next one is "Dead Rock'n'Roll Queen", another powerful goth rock track , and last but not least there is a goth rock ballad "Sometimes", a beautiful closing for the second full-length release of Dryland.
All in all, a mature gothic rock release with some really good tracks and atmospheric dark sounds. While they haven't given us another work for a long period, these 14 years seem to have made Dryland more compact in their compositions and I still believe they keep the 90's goth rock elements. However, I'd like to listen to more new songs from them since I believe they have more to give in gothic rock scene.
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