Metal Underground.com

An unexpected (if still a little unpolished) gem coming out of Denmark and snatched up early by Invictus Productions, Reverie is a young outfit both in terms of the band's itself as well as the individual members, but you might not know that just by listening to “Bliss.” Mixing up the kvlt old school style with more enlightened, open-genre song writing, this debut full-length offering doesn't really disappoint on either end. The miserable misanthropes who want it dirty and raw will probably dig it as much as any metal head who prefers more modern musical tropes.

“Bliss” is undeniably a black metal release, but the guitars are more energetic than that might typically mean, maybe even with a touch of thrash influence in there. On another change of genre standards, despite the raw atmosphere mired in the earlier days of the scene, there's also an audible bass presence. On the whole, the tracks have a frantic level of energy, which when combined with the hoarse vocals (which work for the most part, although occasionally feel like they could use more polish) gives off a punk feel. With the mixture of punk, thrash, and even occasional folk elements coming out of nowhere, Reverie has some of that “we don't give a shit what genre this should be” vibe you might find from the likes of Darkthrone.

A very strong similarity in the main guitar riffs exists between songs, and the main track hooks do get pretty repetitive by the time “Gennem Dine Air” or “The First Reverie” roll around. To keep things fresh, most of the songs feature a change in structure mid-track. There are segments where the guitars go melodic and rock influenced while everything else stays more on the extreme side, and this cross-genre song writing in places brings to mind Tribulation when that Swedish band started going more experimental. For a total change of pace, the interlude title track brings out wind instruments and acoustic strumming, and “From Sea To Shore” takes a stronger dip into the thrashier side.

Although Reverie does manage to change things up a bit during a handful of songs, each individual track isn't really different enough from the whole to have strong memorability or staying power, which is a shame because there's a lot of potential here. “Bliss” feels like it could have been an amazing introduction to the band in the form of a 5 song EP that just absolutely slayed, instead of a 9 track full-length that gets the opportunity to drag and overstay its welcome. That being said, there's still a lot of appeal, and “Bliss” is worth getting into now to see where the band develops from here.