Dreams Of Endless War

I introduced you this band last week with their impressive single Released. Well, this week you'll get the full atomic bomb right in the face !!! This album, simply put, is the best melodic death album since Hatebreeder, no questions asked (it's actually a good rival to Follow The Reaper) !!! Holy Shit, these guys too must be aliens to write such amazing music. Who knows, maybe it's the invasion I had foreseen (or more precisely hoped for :)) in my Hatbreeder review. This band is simply amazing, at first you immediately want to categorize them as Children Of Bodom, just like Throne Of Chaos, but no, these guys have something else, a perfect mix between power and majestic melodies that sets them apart. Not to forget their highly epic feeling, you've got the impression that every song could be an hymn to chaos and used in an Hollywoodian movie. If only it was the case, that would be cool, cause let's face it, when metal is used in movies, it's usually shity punk bands or highly commercial garbage... rarely are the great bands used to deliver music for Hollywood. But that's another story and should be told another time. Let's get back at the atomic bomb at hands that this Dreams Of Endless War is. I still struggle to understand how this album can have such an effect on me, its hooks, catchy melodies, the epic feeling and the total aggression of the vocal parts leave me speechless... and I can listen to it over and over again, 2,3 or even 5 times in a row (something I cannot with other melodic death acts, with the sole exception of InFlames' Clayman). The guitar riffs are pure heavy and power, fast and deadly. The solos are majestic, both guitar and keys. Beside the power and epic feeling that differs from COB, we must add that the keyboard players have different style and sound, and that the production (mixed and mastered at Finnvox of course) is slightly inferior than the one of the Reaper Alexi and his Children. But if I compare this album to the first COB album, I'm forced to declare this one a winner, not on the originality side of course, since these guys would not sound this way if it wasn't for COB. The album contains 8 songs, 7 killer tracks that are all beyond lightspeed paced songs, a nice piano instrumental track and a very funny cover of Europe's famous song : The Final Countdown. Much interesting cover than the one Vision Divine had delivered in their debut album if you ask me. It's very strange to hear this song with aggressive vocals, but it sure rocks. One funny thing. On 2 occasions COB have used (deliberately ? I can't tell) Hollywood movies melodies, both from the masterpiece music composer Hans Zimmer. Which makes me wonder if the guy isn't one of Alexi's influence (I won't forget to ask him if I can one day be given the pleasure of interviewing this living Metal God !). Anyway, in Tokyo Warhearts, an epic guitar intro that is almost note for note inspired from Days Of Thunder, and then in Follow The Reaper's Bodom After Midnight; the guitar solos that plays the exact main theme of the blockbuster movie The Rock (probably one of the best ever action movie with Die Hard by the way...). Well, funny enough we can observe the same thing here with Victorious that "borrows" The Man In The Iron Mask (hell of a movie too !) melody during the song. I wonder if this is at all intentional or simply melodies that simply resurface out of the subconscious during the song writing process. Anyway, this borrowed melody at the end of the song adds to the already strong epic feeling and I simply love to hear it metallized. It's been a long time since I've listened and worshiped an album so much and although I loved Follow The Reaper in the first days after I had it, I must say that it doesn't end on my CD player much, far less than Hatebreeder and surely less than Dreams Of Endless War will in the future I'm sure. I must have already given it more than 50 spins, and even now I'm amazed by this pure jewel of melodic death metal. Although it's very early, this album will for sure be in my 2002 surprises of the year list... and it already added to my all-time favorites ! Last but not least, the artwork is simply amazing, the perfect artcover for the perfect debut album a band can wish for. I'm looking forward to the band's next move, will they confirm their amazing performance ? Only time will tell. But for the moment, if you're into melodic death metal, then you cannot miss that album, cause this is a "buy-or-burn-in-hell" with ignorance by your side !