Never Dream was born in 2000 in Guidone, Italy. Their story so far is very equal to other starting bands. A first line-up, some demos, line-up change etc...They really got settled in April 2005, when they start recording Rain of Sorrow. This is what the band itself sees as the beginning of their own sound. After releasing that EP they started working on the album I'm reviewing right now.

Chemical Faith is a concept album, based on the true story of "Christiane F. and the children of the Berlin zoo". In my opinion quite a freaky title for a story. Never Dream calls their record personal and mature. A mix of power and melody put together with progressive elements and thrash with a little touch of dark paths and dramatically gothic influence. Phew, quite an explanation for one record. And to be honest, neither one of these many aspects of the album could convince me. I heard very little progressive elements, hardly any thrash at all and also really cutting melodies were hard to find. The complete album is played in mid-tempo and sounds pretty much alike. One thing that did surprise me was the darkness on these songs. Being a happier and positive person I had a hard time to listen this album out. You’d kind of get depressive with listening to it, which goes very well along with the story of Christiane F.

This is where things do get interesting:

The story of C.F. portrays the drug scene in Berlin in the 70s, following tape recordings of Christiane F. 14 year old Christiane lives with her mother and little sister in a typical multi-storey apartment building in Berlin. She's fascinated by the 'Sound', a new disco with most modern equipment. Although she's legally too young, she asks a friend to take her. There she meets Detlef, who's in a clique where everybody's on drugs. Step by step she gets drawn deeper into the scene.

Throughout the album you hear what I assume to be parts of Christiane's tape recordings. I'm sure Never Dream will only attract a select fan base. It's not something you can listen to for hours, either you like it or not. I definitely don't. Check out some of their songs to see if you do! Chemical Faith is a wonderful and original concept, but I'm afraid they haven't worked it out well.