Trackliste :

1. Angel's Landing
2. The Unbroken
3. Brotherhood
4. Empty
5. To Give Or To Leave
6. Four Elements
7. Bungler's Blame
8. Song of a Lost Love
9. Psychotic Dream

The audio quality of the album is good. A relaxing and wonderful solo introduces us to the world of 'An Handful of Dust', followed by the voice of the singer, as quiet as the guitar intro. The atmosphere suddenly changes in the beginning of the second track, The Unbroken, which shows us the will of getting out of a ruined world. As promised by the title of the album, the themes of the songs show us visions of fear and anxiety, which are perfectly expressed by the nervous voice and by the instrumental part, that reminds us a bit Dream Theater.

Surely we can’t get bored by the melodies: the whole album looks like a sort of experimentation of different styles, with thrash metal influences. Anyway, it is not easy to listen to it: the frequent time changing and the long instrumental parts may look very strange for who’s not used to the virtuosism of experimental genres. Brotherhood is one of the tracks that most express the use of different styles. From the melodic solo to the rough riffs, through the clear voice and the growl lyrics, to the acoustic guitar solo, this song represents best the experimental sound of An Handful of Dust. There is a difference between the other tracks, here: the lyrics are not such pessimistic, they still keep the will of being alive and continuing to fight in a world that looks more like a nightmare.

Four Elements is a more classic metal song: only instrumental, it is a sort of pause from the world of fear shown in the lyrics, but not less nervous. The last chapter of this voyage between cruelty and few hopes summarizes the considerations about the world we live in: again, a wonderful instrumental part and touching lyrics remind us that, despite we are in a place where life can’t live, we’re still here... in this Psychotic Dream
 

RAting : 7/10