Something doesn’t make sense here. The title of Jade‘s latest piece – Mysteries of a Flowery Dream – just doesn’t sync with the primeval monster roaming a dystopian landscape on display. There ain’t nothing flowery here, no sense of relief. Instead, it talks about tribulation and fear. A tale akin to Lovecraftian nightmares and hints of Bloch’s De Vermis Mysteriis. Of proto-plasmic horrors still to come to this earth and harrow mankind.
Well, doesn’t that just sound like the present-day times on full display? A period full of uncertainties driven by dark forces, with a dead compass leading to nowhere. Strange efflorescence bloomin’ in unhappy places.
I gotta say, Jade‘s wares are an acquired taste. A mix of Atmospheric Black and predominantly Death Metal swirling about the soundscape in a unique and grandiose fashion. I don’t know, someone opined lately that the atmospheric folks ain’t got no bite anymore. But the RMR crew disagrees. This record contains a slow-burning aggression writ large on a canvas of black and grey. So, enter this uneasy place and stand corrected. Mysteries of a Flowery Dream makes you feel like being at a standstill while the untamed forces of metal rage around you.
And that is indeed how the whole record sounds like. Built around a sturdy whirlwind of pristinely constructed riffs, leads, solos, darkly grinding growls, and troubled doom-laden shouted clears, the record leads you straight into the spider’s realm. And speaking about solos, head over to Darkness in Motion and enjoy. This track is an absolute solofest from Guitar Central. Furthermore, no track will stand on its own. Instead, the record’s Bölzer-like wares1 intricately weave their way along its tortuous 43-minute-long pathway with astonishing flow. The RMR crew truly appreciated the emotion, this sentiment of dread that the gang around J here was able to project. This expert depiction of a motley selection of moods and flavors indeed is the backbone of Mysteries here.
Cathedral eruptions of blackened Atmospheric Death Metal will try to crush your scrawny behinds between its steely jaws. And the band won’t do this solely by brute force. Instead, they draw on rock’s and early metal’s woozy past. The solos, leads, and bridges often come injected with wares seemingly wafting over from Pink Floyd-esque fever dreams. And it’s indeed those hypnosis-inducing soundscapes that will make you scrape along the record’s lengthy and tortuous pathways.
But this also means full immersion with a number of in-depth listening sessions that the esteemed listener must embark on. Mysteries of a Flowery Dream will not give up its wares easily. And its most precious gems won’t become apparent until you give this piece your undivided attention. You will be rewarded with a well-elaborated soundscape that will leave nothing to chance and serve you with a densely written tornado of a production instead.
Ultimately, Mysteries of a Flowery Dream turned into one of the most astonishing metal pieces of 2025 so far. This is not your usual wall of sound hitting you like a breaching whale on steroids. Instead, you get a well-chiseled production that won’t lose one sound byte anywhere. A piece of work that hungrily feeds off superior songwriting, of a killer arrangement, and a master that actually polishes its final workings for once. Jade have outdone themselves on this here record. Not with some cheese-laden Metal o’ the Light but with a dystopian deep-dive into a feverish dreamland that should frighten you with its stark tale. Instead, it ended up mesmerizing this here crew with ever-returning delicate melodics embedded in deliciously vile yet outstanding metal.
So, if you’re ready to lend sell Mysteries a part of your metal soul, give it your full attention. And you shall be richly rewarded.
Ed’s note: The record made it onto our 2025 malevolent list AND on our 2025 Top 10 Records. That’s a pretty astounding feat.
Record Rating: 8/10 | Label: Pulverised Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 9 May 2025
- Or Bølzer. The nerds of this band have gone full kvlt on good ol’ RMR. -Ed.-↩