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Dreamland

Exit 49

Written by: PP on 20/10/2009 20:40:11

Dreamland are a power metal band from Sweden. But before you roll your eyes and turn away, hear me out, because from the very opening song of their third album "Exit 49", the band easily sets themselves above the boring grey mass known as central European power metal. The biggest reason for this is their extensive use of melody, which can probably be attributed to their hometown Gothenburg.

The soundscape is epic but not annoyingly so because the instrumentals are, for once, interesting for the listener, and the vocal melodies are quite grabbing all around. "Set The Heavens On Fire", for example, has a Dragonforce/Gamma Ray feel even if the instruments aren't as ridiculously technical. "The Curse", has a sweet hook right in the start of the song that alone is enough to say that these guys mean business. On top of that their vocalist Jake E has some serious pipes in his possession. He mostly explores the sort of ranges that I could only dream of, again drawing a close parallel to Dragonforce, and many of his choruses are distinguishable from each other (though not all, it should be mentioned). Every now and then the band does dive head first into boring/generic heavy metal territory like on "Nordic Rage", although here too the chorus is pretty decent so it's not an absolute disaster.

"Exit 49" might not be the sort of album that re-invents the wheel, nor even the sort of album you'll pop on on a daily basis, but it sure as hell is better than the usual load of crap that arrives in our mailbox from the power metal scene. Without having heard their previous material, I'm fairly confident in saying that "Exit 49" is Dreamland's best material to date. Cause if it was any better than this, they'd be constantly mentioned alongside names like Dragonforce, Gamma Ray and so forth. As it stands now, it's lagging only slightly behind awesome, but still above dead on mediocrity.

Download: Set The Heavens On Fire, The Curse
For the fans of: Gamma Ray, Dragonforce
Listen: Myspace

Release date 25.09.2009
Dockyard 2