 | Tracklist:
1. Chasing The Dragon
2. In Flames You Burn
3. Save Us
4. Kingdom Of The Damned
5. The Prophesy
6. The Chosen Ones
7. Losing You
8. The 7th Day
9. Heavy Metal In The Night
10.Heavy Metal Jesus
11.Hail To The King
12.Outro
| Ranking: #26 for 2002 | |
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| Summary: A solid debut album that has excellent vocals, guitars, and overall production. The lack of outstanding songs and the presence of a couple bland songs shun away a better rating. |
5 of 5 thought this review was well written
The year was 1999 and Fredrik Nordstrom was looking to start a band of his own. This is the man known for producing such huge melodic death metal acts like At the Gates, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and Arch Enemey. By the end of the 20th century though, Fredrik decided to start his own group, a power metal group. This wasn't such a far fetched idea as it first seemed since Fredrik produced Hammerfall's Legacy of Kings. So after gathering such musicians as Gus G and Niklas Isfeldt, Dream Evil was born, and soon released their first album Dragon Slayer.
From the opener Chasing the Dragon, the listener can already grasp the immensely cheesy, but awesome, tone of the song. Lyrically, well take a look for yourself.
"We were chasing the dragon
We were searching everywhere In the chase of the dragon
Let the gods lead us there In the chase of the dragon
I sacrifice my blood, in the chase of the dragon!!!"
If you don't like these types of lyrics, than this isn't for you; in fact, the whole genre isn't. Niklas sings the lyrics and portrays a fabulous and uplifting emotion throughout the song to make this a standout tune.
In fact, most of the tones that the songs portray are well done. This has to do with the fact that the instrumentation does an outstanding job. Gus G and Fredrik play fun and catchy riffs like seen on tracks as Chasing the Dragon, The Chosen Ones, and Hail to the King. They play tremendous solos on just about every track, and also keep the rhythm to the songs at the same time. The downside is that some riffs sound bland and boring. For instance Save Us and The 7th Day are both boring songs and the guitars are the reason for this because the drums play a secondary role, and the bass is non-existent.
Another stand-out for this album is in the department of vocals. Niklas Isfeldt shows good range and power throughout. Even in the obligatory power ballad Losing You, Niklas has a vulnerable, but emotional side to his vocals. Add a great instrumentation to the equation, and you have a power metal band performing a ballad that is actually good. Niklas is at his best with the uptempo, frenzy pace of the rest of the album though. Kingdom of the Damned shows the power in his voice, and Prophecy shows a little bit of his range. The true treat of the vocals are the backing vocals that are used. For instance, Hail to the King becomes much more grand with the addition of the backing vocals. No more are the backing vocals used to perfection than in the best track of the album The Chosen Ones. The vocals (which sound like warriors ready to march out to battle) are used in the extremely epic chorus. The transition of the power of the solo vocals by Niklas, to the backing vocals plus Niklas, add a nice depth that turns the tune into a great power metal track.
This album turns out to be quite a debut overall. Production is high, vocals are well-done, has the mandatory cheesy fantasy lyrics, and its scale is nothing short of being a power metal epic. Downgraded by a few boring tracks and the lack of outstanding tracks, the rating isn't as high as it could have been. If there had only been a couple more songs like Chasing the Dragon and The Chosen Ones, this could have been one of the best power metal debuts. Instead, we get a few bland songs, a couple outstanding songs, and a bunch of good songs; but hey, that isn't a bad thing either.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Another good review.
Pos'd.
Is this the band that does "the book of heavy metal"?
| | | Album Rating: 4
One of my first reviews where I don't think I kept switching tenses, that make me 
And yes, this is the band that does "The Book of Heavy Metal."This Message Edited On 08.04.08
Digging: Gunther - Pleasureman | | |
Good review. Only song i know is Chasing The Dragon and its pretty good.
Digging: All the Empires of the World - Last Rites
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good review
i dont like power metal at all but you write some good reviews for them
but i do see you haven't reviewed an album you find to be poor, you should try it sometime
but good review mang
keep em coming
Digging: Those Who Lie Beneath - An Awakening
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He did actually...but i think hed rather we all forget about that one lol
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oh wait didnt he do a bad review for None so Vile?
| | | Album Rating: 4
lol, and I like that album a bit more than I was saying I did. A little bit more. I am going to do a 2.5 review for that album on a day where I feel like I am at my writing peak.
As for doing negative reviews, I don't feel like sitting through a terrible album for the whole duration.
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Now everyone go look at my new Disillusion review
It short and sweet so youll all like it
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Man I really hate this band so much
Digging: Animal Collective - Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished
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yeah i remember that review, it got crazy in the comments pages lol
well we all know that you can write positive reviews, i just tried writing my first two negative reviews, its a bit different than this idk it would just be cool
this review is good nevertheless
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Great great review.
Anyway, this is gonna sound very noob-ish, but with what tags can you get text italicized? (What you have used in this review for the song names.) Oh yeah, what about the underlining tags? I know all the other tags though..
thanks a lot
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[i ] [/i ] for italics
[u ] [/u ] for underline
take the spaces out of both for them to work
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b for bold and the word quote for quotes and whatnot
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i dont like power metal at all
Have you tried, say, Kamelot or Nightwish dude? Both have several stellar albums.
Another great review from Poet. Band didn't really get my attention but now the average rating for this does.
I do think reviews look better without quote boxes though.
Digging: Sole and the Skyrider Band - Plastique
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Maybe you could put the lyrics in italics or something.
Otherwise, good review.
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^^ Yeah, italics would the obvious alternative.
| | | Album Rating: 4
I have never used the quote box in a review before so I felt like doing something different this time
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didn't read the review but happy 20th
Digging: Wilco - Being There
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Have you tried, say, Kamelot or Nightwish dude? Both have several stellar albums.
i have heard some select kamelot (i couldnt tell you what album) and i was impressed with their sound but i couldnt take it in big doses
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didn't read the review but happy 20th
Wait until his 21st review before you celebrate!
Then they can drink!
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