Vickis Dream - Vickis Dream

​Vickis Dream

Vickis Dream
​self-released; 2022

3.9 out of 5

By Dan Weston
​

I was excited to listen to the self-titled release Vickis Dream from Vickis Dream when I read about their influences. The band states “The Misfits, Faith No More, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth, Sioxsie Sue, Peter Murphy, The Damned, Type-O Negative and A Perfect Circle” are some of their influences. I’ve been a fan of those bands for the last twenty years so I was excited to hear what they would deliver. 

The album starts with “Awakening” which is an over the top introduction that sounds like the beginning to an epic full scale superhero movie. I liked it but not sure it was necessary in all honesty. The band arrives in full on their song entitled “Deja Vu.” I would say this band shreds in a major way in the first minute. The music was interesting. It was more punk oriented than I expected, especially with the anthemic vocal chants. The band sounds tight and definitely dips into many different genres. I have to give it up to the guitarist for absolutely slaying the guitar solo. There are some other different vocal approaches and the vocalist sounds like the lead singer from The B-52's. There’s also a spoken word section which is haunting and post-rock inspired that sounds like it could be in a movie and then goes into drone metal. Wow - this song goes into so many unexpected places.

“Morbid” gave me Joy Division type vibes at first with a side of The Cure. The vocalist sounds great on this song and I felt the vocal melodies were quite catchy. It’s a fast moving song and the energy is there. That being said it did feel like almost a completely different band from the first song.

“Wendigo” is a good one with another strong vocal performance. There’s lots of energy in this song and it reminded me of the energy I would feel when listening to TV on the Radio. “Desert Punks” felt straightforward in comparison to some of the previous songs. There are multiple vocalists here and minus Kurt Cobain this sounded like it could have a Bleach era Nirvana song.

“Vandal Hearts” combines punk energy with the revolutionary spirit of The Who and also sounds like it could be a song in the The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's a bit of a romp. “Nuke ‘Em All” is a fun and fast punk tune. They end with “Priscilla” which was another narrative closing out the show. 

The band was at their best on “Deja Vu.” This song is the most ambitious by a far margin and displays their ability to bend genres rather seamlessly. Most of the songs that followed were a little more predictable.

​Overall, I really enjoyed this release. The band has a lot of energy and felt like music that deserves to be heard live. Take a listen.

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