Review Summary: Heavenly's third offering is an unforgettable one, with 13 tracks and clocking it at 70 minutes you are guaranteed to have a good time.
Heavenly's 3rd album is one of those albums where on first listen it may not sound amazing, but after a second or third listen you realize the brilliance within. The most interesting thing about this album is not only is it a full 70 minutes, but its also a conceptual album... only unlike American Idiot and Mylo Xyloto this is done to near complete perfection.
In "Dust to Dust" some of the first things that jump out at you is indeed the quality of the music (Specifically on "Victory (Creature of the Night)", "Illusion Parts 1 &2", "Miracle", and "Kingdom Come) its staggering how well written each of those songs are, including the actual guitar riffs in the music. For example, in Kingdom Come at 1:27 there is one riff that is really damn good, not really revolutionary but catchy as all hell and really speeds up the song. Heavenly's signature in all their music is the solos, each song is guaranteed to have at least one part of the song where there is a 2-3 minute brake where there is just a solo playing. Some are really good, ["Kingdom Come", "Evil", "Illusion Part 2"], while others are forgettable ["Victory", "Hands of Darkness"]
Another thing that may jump out at you in "Dust to Dust" is the vocals. Heavenly's front-man Benjamin Sotto provides vocals that not only escalate the music, but really help it drive forward, with some excellent lyrics to accompany it. Specifically in the song "Miracle", which is arguably the best song on the album, Sotto's vocal range is put to the test, which a beautiful piano part where is sings slowly but very well, and then instantly there is the actual chorus of the song which is where you can really see how much effort they put into the album. Another example of Sotto's vocal variety is on the song "Evil", it stars as if he is singing in a bit of a low tone. But, shortly after when we get to the lyric "Give me back my soul! SOOOUL!" his voice goes beyond what most other male singers could do.
One of the best things that Heavenly succeeds at in this album is the small little tunes within the album, one of the best examples of this is Victory (Creature of the Night). What starts as a piano ballad quickly builds up into what sounds like a completely different tune, flawlessly transitioned. Even after that there is another transition into a completely different song, all in the same track. This is also seen on the tracks, "Miracle", "Evil", "Fight for Deliverance" and many others.
One can not talk about a conceptual album without talking about what the album is trying to tell. For "Dust to Dust" it is about a man whom is transformed into a vampire by his "Master." This album documents his quest to defeat his master and become normal.
Now, this album is not without its flaws, in fact there are a few songs or parts of songs that didn't really click. One notable problem is the entire track "Hands of Darkness", it's mostly bland and forgettable, lacking the lyrical and vocal charm that all of the other tracks has. While on the topic of lyrics, at the end of the tracks "Illusion Part 2 (Call of the Wild)" and "Victory (Creature of the Night)" there are a few more lyrics after the main songs ends. In Victory it would sound like "I will fight you to live" but then right before it ends they just add in the lyric "my victory has appeared!" Nothing is necessarily wrong with the lyric its self but, it is forced. Same thing happens in Illusion Part 2. Right after they hold the phrase "Call of the WIIIILLLLDDD!" out for several seconds you may think its over... but no! Directly after that there is one final word that is just "NOW", it just feels tacked on and could have been cut out and nothing would have been lost.
Another flaw is in the song Kingdom Come. it feels Sotto is singing from both perspectives "I've never seen somebody talk to me like you!" sounds like the Master of Darkness would say it, however a lyric shortly after "Barley still alive, Theres a place for you..." sounds like the nameless vampire says it. The reason why this is confusing is the Master of Darkness has a line right before the solo and multiple times throughout the album where he speaks in a noticeably different tone.
Heavenly's third offering is an unforgettable one, with 13 tracks and clocking it at 70 minutes you are guaranteed to have a good time. Each song is strung by multiple little tracks that really add to the overall diversity of the album's tracks. The few problems with this album, like the forced endings, the forgettable solos on some tracks, and the song Hands of Darkness, really don't drag this down as far as one may think. Strong, Catchy, and very well written Heavenly's "Dust to Dust" come highly rec omened to fans of Metal, Power Metal, Heavenly, and Conceptual albums alike!
NOTE: I apologize about my previous review, I took your criticisms into consideration and remade it from scratch
4.5/5
