Search - Dreamland :: Future's Calling

Excellent first album for this band

Andrew Ewing | 11/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Several nice pieces. Reminds me of Hammerfall in some of the songs. I think this is their first album and it makes them seem to be a real threat in Heavy Metal!"

More clean Euro metal

Paul Lawrence | Australia | 06/05/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Skirting the boundaries of power metal (like we need more entries to that genre) and trad metal the 2007 album by Dreamland starts off with the obligatory intro - seriously, the weird German fok music on Accepts Restless and Wild album was you you do an intro, not yet another instrumental track in an effort to seem important. But apart from that hiccup the album hits it's stride with Hearts Like Lions which is reminiscent of Freedom Call or what a mate of mine calls 'happy metal'. The third track reinforces the impression made by Hearts Like Lions that these guys have certainly seen what's been going on around them and have taken many of the good aspects of the 00 Euro scene and made them their own. By this I mean clean production, insistent riffing with full bodied instrumentation and lyrically just about a bunch of stuff. Though any messages present are buoyant and positive ones.



Consistency is key here as the band have obviously strived to produce an album that can be played from end to end. Breaking the Chains may be the mother of all cliches in terms of title but the song is solid enough as is Destiny with great hooks and some of the heaviest riffs on the album.



As is usual for this genre there are keyboard inflections and a certain self-seriousness that is in contrast to, say, Dragonforce but the overall feel of proceedings engenders positive feelings and the booklet brims with positivity and a certain missionary zeal.



Further this album has a few other touches that make it easier on the ear than some of the pompous power metal types out there and these include variety in pacing - there are a couple of slower tunes that temper the quicker numbers and there are a couple of guest vocalists which break things up a bit, Elise Ryd being particularly pleasing on the track Fade Away. And the stop/start aspects of the riff to the title track is a nice touch.



It's hard to pick true weak points on this release. The vox of Joacim Lundberg aren't 100% to my taste but that's a personal thing, his voice is pretty much spot on for this kind of thing. Some of the missionary zeal can come across as a bit anaemic but they don't come across as too Sunday School though a band that covers a Stryper song - well it certainly too me by surprise.



A good release for power metal fans. Made me want to check out their other stuff."