Editors 'IN DREAM' album review

Image: Editors

Editors have played around with their sound a considerable amount since the release of their incredible 2005 debut The Back Room.

Ten years on and we now have IN DREAM and perhaps one of the bands most experimental to date; one that sees the culmination of a changing and ever progressing sound that they've honed magnificently.

A feature standing alongside this new record is an ongoing collaboration with designer Rahi Rezvani on the video front. The result is some utterly stunning visuals to fittingly work in conjunction with an equally as stunning album.

That collaboration reinforces the idea that the band don't seem to be content on just plying their trade in one form of artistry anymore, going beyond merely creating music and taking the visual side of things to the next level.

The band seemed to bring a big sense of drama to their sound with The Weight Of Your Love. This new bit of work has built on that same approach, and it's easy to see why. It seemingly follows suit from that last record in steering away from the guitars and towards pounding synths and piercing keys.

The unavoidable lack of guitars will understandably upset those longing for the days of 'Munich' and 'Smokers outside the hospital doors', which admittedly at times is a sorry casualty of Editors' new sound. 

It does leave a pretty raw isolation of Tom's voice which sounds more stunning now than ever, reinforcing that he's without a doubt one of the most talented and under appreciated vocalists around right now and has been for a while. 

'At All Cost' is a prime example of the of this harrowing effect that his voice can have. Displaying that he really can flourish when leaving his vocal capabilities to take the forefront. 

The compositional side of the bands capabilities also appear to have been taken up a notch. Bringing massive orchestral sounds into 'The Law' and combining it with the big synth driven rock that dominates the record to a devastatingly beautiful end product. 

'Marching Orders' is an absolutely mammoth way to give the album the ending it deserves. Lasting nearly eight minutes, the track takes on more of an opera than just a song.

Again the lads really are pushing the boundaries of what they can produce musically and are performing right on the edge of their abilities.

That combination of a sense of opera and a stand out vocal performance suggests that Editors really have found their niche in this sound. The drama of the whole thing keeps it engrossing from every ringing synth and echo of Tom Smiths' vocal.

Like this? Read Brad's review of New Order: Music Complete