Dream Evil - In the Night Review

Along with Germany’s Edguy, Sweden’s HammerFall, and Greece’s Firewind, Dream Evil has emerged as one of the better acts in power metal in recent years. While the much-maligned, defiantly uncool genre is full of bands who stubbornly adhere to its traditional formula, Dream Evil, like its aforementioned peers, manages to put a refreshing, modern twist on the sound. Make no mistake, though, the fromage is always front and center. Famed producer and founding member Fredrik Nördstrom has enormous fun bringing out the metal anthem clichés and Helloween/Gamma Ray homages, but with his slick trademark sound and the band’s strong emphasis on muscular, crunching riffs, it’s a package that can appeal to mainstream metal fans who wouldn’t otherwise dabble in such a garish form of music....full text Dream Evil is one of my favorite traditional/power metal bands of all time. Dream Evil has managed, over the entirety of their career to play into virtually every single stereotype of European power metal with pride, and has come out on top with every album they have released by defying the odds against them in the modern metal scene with superior vocal and instrumental arrangements that are almost second to none anywhere in metal (knowing how to not take themselves so seriously also helps). These guys are consummate players and composers with every single one of their albums with the exception of Evilized still maintaining regular play on my computer. With these Swede’s latest effort, In the Night, recently being released on long time label Century Media, can the band maintain their superiority over the underground power metal scene?

First, the good. In the Night does not drift far from the winning formula that has gained Dream Evil so much acclaim over the years. Much like Iron Maiden, Dream Evil know exactly what needs to be done to please their fans, and they continuously re-invigorate their own sound with fresh melodies and hooks that will stick in your brain for weeks. In the Night is, no doubt, a Dream Evil album with top quality musicianship and the unparalleled singing skills of Niklas Isfeldt, with several songs that keep the band’s track record of greatness intact. However, unlike most previous albums, In the Night has some filler which brings down the overall standard of quality Dream Evil fans have come to expect.

Tracks such as “Immortal” and “Bang Your Head” serve little purpose, or just represent rehashed moments that don’t need to be re-visited. While some songs are filler by Dream Evil standards, they are all very well produced (courtesy of the ever amazing Fredrik Nordström) and perfectly performed which counts for a lot. Still though, I can’t deny that I was a bit disappointed to not enjoy In the Night thoroughly from end to end. Perhaps I just need to adjust to the album, but as a it stands now after a few listens, this is a relatively weak album in comparison to most of the rest of Dream Evil’s discography....full text It’s been over ten years since Sweden’s Dream Evil first hit the scene with their unashamedly over-the-top brand of power metal, with no signs yet of any slowing down for the quintet. In The Night is Dream Evil’s fifth LP proper, and still displays the raging and ballsy trad-metal which first found them favor on such blasting albums as 2004’s career apex, The Book of Heavy Metal.

The question is raised, however: how many Dream Evil albums does one need to own before the band’s point has been thoroughly driven home? One is the correct answer, of course, with that album being the aforementioned The Book Of Heavy Metal, which was a calculatingly sly nod of the head to metal’s classic and glorious clichés. Every album prior seemed to be working itself towards that peak, while every album post-Book unfortunately is being measured against said masterpiece....full text