In This Moment's first album, Beautiful Tragedy, bowled me over and knocked me flat. The Dream is a worthy successor, it's a great, surprising album that doesn't repeat the same stuff in the first one. it's not quite as heavy, which is fine, and Maria Brink only screams on a couple tracks, the rest of it is clean vocals, which is also fine, but i admit i miss the screaming which is a big part of what initially drew me to ITM. but on the other hand, having fewer spots with screaming vocals give them more impact because there's less of it, maybe, and Maria Brink screams so well that whenever she does it hits you so much more. either way, i still love this new album, it's more eclectic than Beautiful Tragedy and in that more interesting, i think, where upon first listen you don't really know what the next track will be. it really brings the band into a more definitive style, all the songs are killer and really memorable; i had an undulating conglomerate of several of the songs stuck in my head for a while after my first listen. i could see some fans of ITM's first album being turned off by the less-heaviness of it and that many of the songs are fairly poppy, but it's still the same folks doing awesome stuff and really pushing their sound into something that's sort of metal, sort of rock, sort of... i don't know, but it's good. highest possible recommendation if that means anything!

I'll admit, I'm not a fan of metalcore or ITM's first album. I love heavy music, but I have to have clean vocals, female vocals are even better. This album delivers! It's heavy, moody, high and low. Maria Brink can scream... and it's awesome. On this album, it's controlled and used for effect. There's no screaming just for the sake of screaming an entire song. Best of all, no cookie monster growls.

Yes, this album has it's pop moments. It's unfair to lump this band in with Paramore, although it's reasonable to like both bands equally. From a pop perspective, I'd put this ITM release a step beyond the darkness and emotion of Flyleaf. I hope we can look forward to more music like this from In This Moment.

Given its drastic departure from ITM's metalcore roots, this is one of the most stylistically puzzling records I have ever listened to. It is therefore a difficult record for me to wrap my head around, but I'll try to keep this short.

ITM's first record, Beautiful Tragedy, was a dead-ringer for Killswitch Engage for the most part - which is just fine, because it wasn't a complete rip-off, and the songs were largely excellent, not to mention the fact that it was really cool to hear a girl belting and screaming like Howard Jones, (a hot one, too... just throwing that out there...). This time around, however, it would be an understatement to say that they have lightened up, both in mood and sound. First of all, the most notable thing about the record is that vocalist Maria Brink, who has always been the centerpiece of the band (musically and commercially), is now even farther out in front of the mix, carries most of the melodies and hooks, and structures the whole record (in the music, lyrics and artwork) around her apparent fantasy of being Alice in Wonderland. Secondly - and this is why I'm so puzzled - the music itself bears a much stronger resemblance to Alter Bridge than Killswitch Engage; "The Great Divide" is the only song where the band delves into the brutal metalcore of their debut record, and also pretty much the only place where Maria actually employs her satisfyingly scathing scream. Elsewhere, the energy and major-key melodicism of the record, especially on "You Always Believed", actually suggest punk-pop, believe it or not. Lead single "Forever" is a thoroughly catchy, deeply melodic radio tune (albeit peppered with a nice classicist metal guitar solo, like many of the tracks here, courtesy of lead shredder Chris Howorth), and the creepy 60 second intro, appropriately dreamy outro track, and generally pink-floydian sense of atmosphere of the record are all nice touches.

So, what of all this? Well, fortunately, if the record is viewed outside of the context of metalcore, it is actually very good as a pop-rock (gasp!) album with a hard rock/alternative metal foundation. The songcraft, as expected, is largely superb, and the the album is very cohesive overall, thanks to the band's sharp focus on their "dream" concept. Ms. Brink's effective helming of the music is, as mentioned, the most interesting aspect of this album, for several reasons. For one, she really stretces out and explores her vocal range, experimenting with lower, softer tones (especially on the hearbreaking piano ballad "Into the Light"), and really belting on those big, epic choruses, while also rounding off a few notes with some sexy vocal cracks. She sounded very good on the debut, but here she sounds like a polished, seasoned pro. What's more, Ms. Brink's starring role in ITM's "dream" raises the interesting question of how many people that were fans of Beautiful Tragedy will embrace this record simply because it offers up such a generous helping of her style, sound, and aesthetic. In fact, the band's new creative direction may have been decided on partially by their calculation that they could bank on their fans' love for their anomalous female centerpiece, regardless of their heaviness (or her utilization of screams).

This pretty much goes without saying, but whether or not you will like this album depends largely on the degree to which you expect it to sound like their debut. Many fans of Beautiful Tragedy are bound to be disappointed, but it is not hard to imagine many of them digging this new musical direction, and this record should widen ITM's fanbase overall.

In 2007 on a whim, I discovered In This Moment with their first full length album BEAUTIFUL TRAGEDY. I immediately loved the band's brand of metal which was both aggressive and melodies. THE DREAM is the band's follow up to BEAUTIFUL TRAGEDY. Judging by other reviews the album is either a hit or miss. I personally love THE DREAM. I love the more melodic approach the band took for the new album. While I did enjoy Maria's vocals on the previous album which switched back and forth from coarse to clean, I am glad to see that Maria stuck to one particular style of singing. I really enjoyed her cleaner vocals although she does stray into the death metal like growl that fans have come to know and love on THE DREAM. The musicianship on THE DREAM is as tight as ever. Maria's bandmates Chris, Blake, Jesse, and Jeff all function as a cohesive unit together with no one sounding out of place. The one song on the entire album that truly stood out with me is the beautiful piano ballad "Into the Light". The melodies and Maria's lyrics just fit perfectly together. I liked how the song gave the listener a breather from the heavier tracks. The rest of the album is fantastic. The songs are melodic yet aggressive without sounding like cheesy hair metal from the '80s. In This Moment solidified me as a huge fan of the band with THE DREAM. I can hardly wait to hear more music from this talented California band.

Loving this up and coming band, a great album for anyone who loves metal music! Raw chick vocals with power riffs and awesome drumbeats! Must have!