Maximum Metal Rating Legend

The debut CD 'Beautiful Tragedy' from In This Moment garnered acclaim with solid melodic metalcore playing and a good-looking front woman, Maria Brink, who had a propensity to wear short skirts and scream more than she sang. For the new CD 'The Dream', Brink told the band she wanted more melody to sing with, so the band dropped the core riffs for Papa Roach territory and the production over-harmonized Brink into a cross between a bathetic Gwen Stefani and Pat Benatar at her most maudlin. 'Beautiful Tragedy' sat comfortable in my collection near Iron Maiden, but 'The Dream' is making Eddie cringe. In This Moment had a working dichotomy of pretty and harsh, yet only one song, "The Great Divide" recalls their previous style. They went so far to the opposite direction, I'd expect lovers of the uglier side to move on as they gain converts to the sweet side. There is a lot of talent here, but maybe the next release will find common ground between their distant poles.