It’s been a while. A few years back the RMR crew covered Dream Evil‘s old 2004 piece The Book of Heavy Metal, a record that felt like some insanely powerful metal parody. Very – and I mean very – intense and so full of clichés it almost hurt. On the other hand, the thing also was equally insanely enjoyable. A fun record that ran for weeks on our music machine.
After that, we somewhat lost sight of the band and never got around to covering more of their wares. Until today, that is, with their newest output called Metal Gods. And that’s good news. Because 2024 by far hasn’t sported enough Heavy Metal yet. Maidens and priests straight ahead.
Since Gus G. left back in 2004, much of their sound strayed away from THAT Heavy Metal sound towards those fantastic realms Power Metal usually occupies. Mind you, no Kamelot-esque croonings await your tortured ears. Instead, whenever Dream Evil put their minds to PM, they will try to imitate speed jockeys such as Evermore,1 sometimes mixed with the silly wares that late Alestorm like to peddle (The Tyrant Dies at Dawn, for example).
But that doesn’t mean the band forgot about Heavy Metal. The first track – Metal Gods – makes a convincing enough statement to the contrary. The clichés and direct references to old Heavy Metal masters didn’t quite evaporate either. But – instead – turned a tad more mature. Even if, in certain instances, you get that terrible stench of ’80s Sunset Strip metal fare wafting your way. And we don’t really want to get too close to that specific hairy terrain, now, do we? But, luckily, most of the Heavy Metal oscillates between Iron Maiden, Saxon, and a light version of Dio.
And yet. Despite the ton of energy on display and a genuine will to further the cause of Heavy Metal, I missed this extra jolt of soaring extravagance that makes or breaks a good early metal record. The soaring riffs, succulent and loud solos, metal screams to make your eardrums split, the friggin’ glittery bombast, all of that would make the RMR Review Desk salivate for more. But that doesn’t quite happen here. Metal Gods sports a lot of the aforementioned metal fun, true. But we missed the lightning blitzes, the screamy, carefree, and straightforward total metal attack.
It is as if Dream Evil grew older, a tad more tired, and lost some of their luster and refreshing swagger in the process. And perhaps, the statements of the band that since the last record aired, they “…have just been lazy…” but “…had to put out a record…” were prophetic in a way.2 Life seems to have gotten in the way and priorities indeed change sometimes. And sure enough, the often bitter lyrics toward the end seem to speak to exactly that little facet of human existence.
On the other hand, the proclaimed will to do well by the Heavy Metal fan crowd does show. The record contains the full package with in-yer-face vocals, heavy chugs, and soaring solos. Metal Gods contains some insanely catchy tracks that stand out from the crowd. The Tyrant Dies at Dawn with its excellent Power and Viking Metal airs wore itself out over here on endless repeat. Metal Gods – the title – track speedily bounced off our walls as well. In a way, this is the perfect opener for this here record. Or take the more mid-tempo Y.A.N.A with its nostalgic heavy stomp that will cater to the Hard Rock and early metal crowd best.
In contrast, a whole bunch of other tracks didn’t quite convince either. Fight in the Night, Master of Arms, or Born in Hell – for instance – warble endlessly about the soundscape. To the point that this reviewer got his mind wandering to other, more energetic pastures. And that’s called losing the audience by mid-point, which never is a good thing. At all.
Ultimately, Metal Gods turned into a mixed bag of goodies. A rock-solid start and an equally powerful end section showed what Dream Evil are still capable of. Whereas the way weaker mid-section often made us pull up other records. In other words, Metal Gods is a very good record but surely no great one. Maybe a great culling of the tracklist might have helped matters a lot to gain some traction and quality. But it’s too late for that now.
In the end, Metal Gods still is a cool Power and Heavy Metal record well worth your attention. For future records, we’d just hope that the band would again put the pedal to the metal and really let ‘er roar. They still got it in them.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Century Media | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 26 July 2024