As you may or may not remember, I was mostly unimpressed with Tenebris's first album, The Odious Progress. Two years later they released the follow-up, Only Fearless Dreams. This is a somewhat different sort of album which keeps some of the doomier, slow tempo stuff but also adds even more atmospheric and symphonic elements that almost push the album into another genre entirely. The growls of Przemyslaw "Szymon" Szymaniak are still quite prominent, as are the heavy riffs. The guitar work has been stepped up with some added technicality and melody. It really sounds like the band wanted to do some more complex songs this time around. Instead of using the same riffs and strong structures over and over, there is a great deal of variety on this album that keeps it interesting the whole way through.

The first song, Faeton, has some good guitar work and the symphonic/electronic elements actually remind me a bit of Therion. The vocals of Szymon are sharp and harsh and sound like they could also be heard on a black metal release. The song slows a bit towards the middle with rhythmic drums and symphonic keyboards until the guitar riffs blast back in with some deeper, more chant-like vocals. Atmosphere continues this symphonic feeling in the opening of the song with big drums and reverbed guitar, then moves into to some fast, electric riffs. It actually succeeds quite well in keeping my interest, the keyboard and guitar work is simply beautiful. The song changes tempo often and throws a lot at you, but overall it is an interesting listen. The sound of the album so far reminds me of the bands Therion and Ebony Tears, two other metal bands that do the symphonic/atmospheric sound quite well yet can also add aggression. The vocals also sometimes have a sort of black metal edge to them, such as in the song Immortal. Perhaps written with thoughts of the legendary band of the same name in mind? The guitars also have a bleaker, colder feeling to them at times. I think the symphonic elements can help in creating the dark atmosphere they seem to be going for here, I also enjoy the guitar/keyboard interlude toward the end of Give Me The Gods, at times it was like listening to a twisted version of The Doors! Most of the songs on this 12 track album are under 4 minutes which I think keeps them from dragging on for too long. I think that they recognized this type of songwriting can work in longer songs, but did not want to write epic-length compositions. I can respect that because it does work in their favor, moving the album along and a good pace. Only Fearless Dreams starts with a tense, monolithic melody that starts out exciting but unfortunately does not go much of anywhere in the song. It lost my attention soon after it started and the more bland riffs came in. Space Dancer begins with clean electric guitar and bass work that is interesting and creates a nice atmosphere, soon being interspersed with electric riffs and then building to a doomy, heavy feel with plenty of keyboards for a decent instrumental track. Crippled Dimensions begins with an even more melodic, atmospheric approach, though the electric guitars and growls of Szymon soon come in to turn the song into an interesting blend of blackened death and symphonic metal.

There is quite an eclectic mixture here that should keep most interested, though of course there are other bands that do many of the same things better (Therion, Ebony Tears, and Bal-Sagoth come to mind). However this album shines because it came out quite long ago when not many other bands played this type of music that blended symphonic and melodic elements with blackened death metal. Tenebris's approach is quite original and certainly a good listen for anyone who wants some atmospheric/symphonic metal with an edge to it.