My first experience with Revery was as one of the bands playing early in the day at the Lunatic Luau, Virginia Beach's annual hard/metal festival, essentially opening for, among other people, Ra, Mastodon, Soilwork, Mudvayne, and Rob Zombie. Their tight, energetic set piqued my interest, and I'd heard earlier in the day that they had a major label debut coming out soon, so I managed to snag a copy of the disc. There was a degree of nervousness as I started it the first time--could the studio performance live up to the live show?Let me preface everything else with the bottom line: I really like this CD. That said, there's a certain degree of, "Hey, I've heard this CD before, and it was called Contraband." One of my favorite songs on the disc, "Popstar Wedding," has a main riff clearly inspired by "Slither," and singer Jason Martinez worships at the altar of Scott Weiland and Axl Rose for most of the CD. The main exceptions are the opening track "Look At What You've Done," which reminds me of Phil Anselmo circa Down's "Ghosts Along the Mississippi," and the southern-tinged "3 Weeks." All of the songs are riff rockers with a strong sense of groove, and there are plenty of guitar solos evoking the old days when rock was rock was rock.
Let's be honest: Revery doesn't do anything new here, although they do it better than plenty of the current crop of modern rock artists. Don't let the fancy title fool you--if you want music you can turn on and then shut your brain off and rock out to, look no further than Revery.
