Released on: 3rd October 2020
What music was to be expected from the creator of the game that rekindled the ailing FPS genre: DUSK. Was it to produce an album of William Shatner like covers done in the style of Stephen Weyte. An album of intense metal tunes so furious that Megadeth would ultimately release their own version of video game Garage Inc. Some kind of illbient perhaps– Big Aphex John.
Dream of an Endless Ocean is the unexpected album from lauded game designer David Szymanski. Szymanski is better known as a defining force in the resurgence of Boomer shooters a.k.a Doom (‘93) clones as the designer of DUSK. This musical endeavor is not a Baz Luhrman style cut from one lane to another, but a solid soundtrack-like experience. Presented as a series of incidental tracks. It is thematically a long way from the gore and gristle of the mighty DUSK.
A delightfully playful experience Dream of an Endless Ocean is a purely instrumental affair. One that would not be out of place augmenting a nineties Sierra On-line point & click adventure game. Where it depicts scenes as if painted in staccato chords and pizzicato melodies to create a fantastic visual of excitement, wonder and virtue. It is like listening to a fairy tale.
There are no lyrics or even an explanation for the motivation of each track; Dare it be known that this may be the Dark Souls of concept albums; The melodies Szymanksi uses are tremendously verbose and convey a range of emotion. As they conjugatezine events prescribed in their respective titles. The album is structured like a great adventure but the narrative, it seems, is left to the listener to discern.
On this recording Szymanski delivers a beautiful almost neo-classical movement. Where the production is close to perfection and for a man that is responsible for so much bleeding in his other artistic endeavors the mastering here is neater than 8K native resolution. Featuring a crisp EQ that makes every note resonate, and every hit reverberate, with just the right amount of force.
There are only so many words to describe excitement but Szymanski has captured the feeling in a more eloquent and presentable fashion. Where Dreams of an Endless Ocean is not so much a salty saga as it is an alien landscape teeming with amazing life waiting to be discovered.
9/10
