Revelation Records – 06 May 2022
Praise’s state of mind? All in a dream…
I love any hardcore records from every phase of the genre. You could say Praise is one of a kind. I wouldn’t say that they play a new kind of hardcore punk breed that no one else ever played but they have magical power in presenting hardcore punk music in their own way, and do it really well.
All In A Dream is Praise’s third LP featuring nine new songs. Unlike many hardcore bands today which incorporate groovy beatdown parts or present heavier sounds into their music, Praise makes their own way by sounding different from the current peers. The album features layered guitar sounds, and a craving for the more melodious parts among their songs. This gives the album itself a more colorful vibe, yet it is also written with a powerful message in its lyrics.
Album opener and title track “All In A Dream” is characterized by a charming layered guitars on the intro which kind of reminds me of many of Husker Du‘s guitar works, and what’s so lovely on this part is when vocalist Andy Norton shouts the line “All In A Dream”. It’s a perfect sing-along part. The track “Hotline To Memory” puts a summer vibe on Praise’s music, and it’s also a track that highlights the band’s melodious pcomposition and personal lyrics found in their music.
The next of my favorite tracks on the album is “Peace of Mind”. The song opens with an emotive guitar intro, followed up by the layered guitars, lending the track a more reflective. When Andy shouts “Peace of Mind”, I can imagine the entire live audience of a packed show shouting along with him. The final track “Life Unknown” brings a bit of a lifting mood to the end of the listening session for the album. The guitar chord progression is something to be noticed and brings up a strong character for this song. I would state “Life Unknown” as a final track because the real last song is a cover of Husker Du’s “Keep Hanging On”. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice final touch for the album to add this cover to Praise’s musical identity on the album.
The LP “All In A Dream” is a good record but there is a small note I would like to mention, in that this record feels like it can be seen as an “Oh it’s a Dag Nasty inspired album”. In the future I would like to see the band do more exploration of sound and musical character, so that this music has more of a Praise identity to it.
financial_powerbomb is a part-time punk, owner of Rizkan Records, and prolific music blogger in Indonesia. As an ESL writer, he’s looking to expand his footprint and English-writing abilities with more reviews in the English language, and TGEFM is more than happy to help out.
