RESTLESS DREAMS by RESTLESS DREAMS

If survival horror was a music subgenre, it would sound like RESTLESS DREAMS. This mysterious new project from Corey Parks of Graveripper creates a nightmarish soundscape inspired by black metal, thrash, heavy industrial, dark ambient, and the iconic game, Silent Hill 2.

The original Silent Hill was the first game Parks beat on the Playstation almost 25 years ago. Since then, the series continued to captivate Parks while sparking his creativity.

“What drew me in and impressed me was the [game’s] atmosphere” explains Parks. “I’ve always leaned towards darker, mysterious, and straight-up weird stuff. These games have such a heavy, terrifying, moody, [David] Lynchian vibe with mature themes that just drew me in. Other games in the genre focused more on action and survival. This was more of a deep dive into the human psyche.”

On the self-titled Restless Dreams debut EP, the world of Silent Hill creeps to life like a waking nightmare. Between bursts of blackened riffs, the album summons dense fog and darker shadows with atmospheric passages. It is an extreme metal album at its heart. But there’s an even darker menace crawling through these tracks.

“I would describe the music as if you took the USBM sound from the 2000s/2010s leaning in the direction of Wolves in the Throne Room and wrote tribute tracks to Trip Hop and Industrial, a la Portishead and Nine Inch Nails,” describes Parks. “Then sprinkle in some Sabbath for good measure and Deafheaven to piss everyone off.”

“My engineer Niko Albanese knocked it out of the park in assisting to find the right metallic sonic textures to take it to the next level,” he adds. “It was finally suggested to me to have the whole EP combined into one big movement, with the addition of some ethereal droning between the tracks. The entire record feels like one big haunting experience, which I think is really cool and unique.”

The result is an otherworldly experience that honors the game’s original soundtrack with a truly inspired hybrid of extreme metal, gothic horror ambience, and loud ‘n’ proud gamer nerdery. The EP will be released by Wise Blood Records on October 8th to coincide with the release of the Silent Hill 2 remake. Wise Blood will celebrate the collaboration with a CD release packed in actual PS2 cases, ultra-limited to only 50 copies. The brilliant layout from David Jaggar perfectly captures the Y2K-era packaging and graphics of the original game with a slick dose of nostalgia.

Brace for Restless Dreams and fresh nightmares on October 8th.

A METAL INSPIRED TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC OF SILENT HILL 2 AND AKIRA YAMAOKA.