There, beyond the gates of the Colosseum, bathing in the blood flowing through the Trevi fountain, covered in ash from the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica — two furious forces wrestle in a locked gaze; modernity and tradition.
Mortal realms collide with metaphysical corridors on Dreaming the Strife for Love, Rome’s Bedsore’s fourth outing. If one was to pull some half melted wax from the proverbial library engulfed in flame—they may find remnants of Premiata Forneria Marconi jackets littered with smoke and fingerprints, the bold kineticism of Crac! from Area and the half emaciated figures of Felona e Sorona from Le Orme.
Tradition oozes from this release, like Åkerfeldt’s wet dream on a cold summer’s day. But beyond the surfaces of the old tattered books and warped phonographs there lies a terror of modernization. These are not revivalists in their late age trying to recant the days of olde. This is the new guard of heavy metal that is ever-curious in their facilities as well as their reconventions.
These compositions are arranged in a way that views their world-building through an ornate peephole made of a future material found on a far-off planet. The moments that truly shine bright are the moments of atmospheric discord, using the old weapons and tools to destroy an expected mirror and shape a new one, respectively.
If John Carpenter decided to produce a film of Victorian extraterrestrials, the sublime drama aesthetics of Dreaming the Strife for Love would score the scenes eloquently. As Devil Doll stares back from the painted two-way reflection, the theatrics of this record are as untenable as the brush technique. Notably the other appropriate convergence of the old romantic classical world and the new future is found in Denis Forkas Kostromitin’s artwork that adorns the album. As we stare into the small arches of the isolated citadel on the cover, as we glare at the small figure caught in a cosmic storm on the back, we recognize that this dream world is not merely illusion — but a physical manifestation of elements ready to strike you down with it’s pomp and dissension.
