{"id":625651,"date":"2026-04-24T13:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/625651\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T13:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:54:09","slug":"a-dream-of-poe-katabasis-a-marriage-among-ashes-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/625651\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dream of Poe – Katabasis: A Marriage Among Ashes Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Miguel Santos loves Edgar Allan Poe. He turned that love into a (sort of) one-man metal project called A Dream of Poe and uses a place called Tell-Tale Studios for mixing and mastering his records\u2014Poe is clearly dear to his heart. The musical dream nearly crumbled, however, when a fire ravaged Santos\u2019s home, destroying the music he\u2019d written for his latest album\u2014all but one song. This must have been devastating, yet from the ashes he resurrected the music and its tale about one character\u2019s descent into the lowest of places: the underworld. Katabasis: A Marriage Among Ashes uses the symbolism of ashes as a parallel to Santos\u2019s own personal tragedy in order to chronicle the agony of loss. The result is an album defined not by bleak darkness, but a sad beauty.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to create a band inspired by Poe, there\u2019s no genre more fitting than gothic doom mixed with the classical Romanticism of symphonic instruments. A Dream of Poe takes the form of My Dying Bride without its crushing brutality and the classicism of Tempestuous Fall<\/a> without its opulence. Katabasis is a surprisingly tender and gentle piece of doom. The pianos and violins add a soft touch, and the guitars strum lovely melodies. The marriage of gentle and lightly brutal opens things on the poignant \u201cThe Wail of Gaea,\u201d where the strings and pianos take turns setting a melancholic tone. \u201cThe Lament of Phaethon\u201d begins with arpeggios and vocals that take on a folky Dolven<\/a> vibe, and blaring horns late in the song tell of bad omens to come. Santos shows a knack for hooky choruses, particularly on the catchy \u201cLamia.\u201d The hookiness returns on the finale, \u201c\u00c0 Medida de Damastes,\u201d sung in what I assume is Santos\u2019s native Portuguese. This tune kicks up the energy slightly, \u00e0 la Paradise Lost<\/a>, before descending into a chilling surge of terror that shatters the peace A Dream of Poe had previously maintained.<\/p>\n

\ufeffKATABASIS: A Marriage Among Ashes by A Dream of Poe<\/a><\/p>\n

A Dream of Poe is technically a one-man project, yet Santos collaborates with a number of musicians who help shape Katabasis. Two of these collaborators split the bulk of the singing duties. Kaivan Saraei handles the first four tracks, with a voice that carries a gothic calm, evoking Dolven\u2019s Jori Apedaile. Jo\u00e3o Melo, who closes the record out, has a more earthy tone that grows rawer when it increases in intensity. Santos himself contributes, briefly, with some growls that may be underpowered, but fit with the gentler nature of the album. Though Santos handles almost all instruments, other musicians aid in some small but important roles. Ruben Correia plays several guitar solos across Katabasis, providing some nice breaks from the gloom, notably on \u201cLamia\u201d and \u201cThe Captivity of Hesperus.\u201d Correia also plays violins on \u201cThe Lament of Phaethon\u201d and \u201cLamia,\u201d where he brings an organic and poignant touch to what are already terrific tunes. Regardless of who contributes, the musicians pour their hearts and souls into creating this emotionally striking work of art.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With funeral doom, lengthy slow burns are par for the course, yet writing a song that doesn\u2019t overextend itself becomes a tricky balancing act. A majority of tracks on Katabasis fall in the seven-minute range and feel just right. The eleven-minute \u201cExhorting Nightmares\u201d proves an exception. At seven minutes, it would have been fine, yet Santos keeps it going and even tacks on an ill-advised spoken word section towards the end. On the whole, Katabasis falls into a rather tight 45 minutes, so it\u2019s only a minor complaint. The only other knock against the record is the lack of power behind the guitars and growls. A Dream of Poe is not aiming for the sort of power that My Dying Bride consistently delivers, but a little extra oomph here and there would have made a greater emotional impact.<\/p>\n

It would have been so easy to give up in the midst of the loss Santos suffered. Yet he forged ahead and revived his lost music. While Katabasis presents a descent into a bleak place, there is something triumphant in the finished product. Santos, it seems, found himself at the edge of the pit, the imp within contemplating the fall, before the pendulum swung back and pulled him from the brink. He heard the beat of the Tell-Tale Studios and found himself driven not by madness, but by a desire to create his music and leave an indelible mark on the world of heavy metal.<\/p>\n

Rating: 3.5\/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Meuse Music<\/a>
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: April 24th, 2026<\/p>\n

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