If you had told me 2 years ago than the new Heavenly would be this unbelievable
album I'm listening to day after day for the past 3 weeks now, I would not have
believed you. I had the feeling that Sign Of The Winner would be difficult
to equal... boy I had no idea ! Simply put : Dust to Dust is Not of
this world!!! One of the best piece of music my ears have had the pleasure to
listen to, as simple as that. So far the progress from one album to another
is simply unbelievable, and I cannot conceive a forth album that tops this one,
but this band might very well, in time, become the true metal band (a position
that I believe is held by Edguy for now) ! I say in time cause
so far Ben and the boys have shown how they could write incredible songs inspired
from the best metal acts previously : Gamma Ray, Helloween,
Stratovarius and Angra as main source of inspiration.
Now you can add Edguy (& Avantasia), Rhapsody
and Freedom Call to the list too. But where too many bands
would simply copycat a style, Heavenly takes the best of all
these musical worlds, assimiliating the best elements from the mentionned band,
and creating a magical merge that gives birth to Heavenly, delivering you a
pure True Metal experience !
The first thing that strikes is the production... we've changed galaxies compared
to Sign Of The Winner which suffered from a good but lacking production
(in terms of power). You want power ? well, you've never heard the sound of
power metal drums unless you listen to Dust to Dust, thanks to the
crystal clear production by Sasha Paeth (Kamelot, Rhapsody,...)
without any doubt the best true metal producer. Now as for the album itself,
it lasts more than 70 minutes. Now, what I believe truly makes Dust to Dust an instant classic
and a true masterpiece is the songwriting, when most metal bands deliver you
structured songs (verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus), Heavenly
puts breaks and solos at any place in the song, giving the album a little crazy
progressiveness that can only remind Children Of Bodom's Hatebreeder
or the magical songwriting of Lost Horizon.
Now about the songs, I could write a book about each and every one of them,
but I won't cause I don't want to spoil this discharge of pleasure that I'm
sure you'll fell, like I did at my first listen (and now still), when you'll
listen to Dust To Dust ! On the list of changes, the vocals now vary
more, you'll be able to appreciate many more facets of the incredible range
of vocal abilities of Ben Soto, and also some more personality to them (before
they where pretty much a merge of Kiske and Matos... now his vocals are so much
more !). There is less higher vocals moments, though you get the usual high
pitch vocals then and there, but they aren't as widely used as before, and if
you ask me that's all the better. Ben will make a very convincing Tobias or
Kai, but what's new on this album, and what's really great, is that Ben sings
like Ben too now (developping his own vocal style) ! The big difference in Dust
to Dust are the choirs, they are over-present throughout the album, and
they second Ben to the perfection ! Almost every song could be considered as
metal hymns, and if you thought that Freedom Call or Rhapsody
were the master of that category, you'll see Heavenly also
deliver their share of hymns. Vocal melodies are so original and so inspired,
that even now, key moments on the album are still sending shivers down my spine,
especially those incredible crescendo in songs like the killer opener song :
Evil or Victory (Creature Of The Night), which is to me the
best song on this album and one of my all-time favorite tune. Overall, Dust
to Dust is incredibly more heavy and symphonic than Sign Of the Winner.
Everything in this album feels metal ! Instrumentaly you're also in for a ride,
you'll get beautiful breaks and crazy ultra-melodic solos. I could have lived
without the presence of an actual instrumental track. Don't get me wrong, this
track is really good, but songs are so enjoyable , that an instrumental can
only feel like a missing song (since it lacks vocals :)) ! Some moments will
undoubtedly remind you Avantasia and Edguy
(especially in Victory or Miracle), even some vocals will
sound like Tobias. Like I said in my previous review, touring with Edguy
could only be a positive thing for Heavenly, and it
shows in the final result in Dust To Dust ! The album ends on the only
ballad on Heavenly's new offering, Dust To Dust, and
what a beautiful way to finish the album, right after the epic and unbelievable
8+ minute killer song Kingdom Come.
So, imagine the best of Helloween and Gamma Ray
with the right dose of Edguy and Rhapsody,
with that really original song-writing, a production to wake the dead, 10 songs
ranging from 5 to 9 minutes for the long and ultra-epic song Miracle, amazing
vocals & choirs, ultra-melodic solos and very heavy riffs ! Well, you're
not dreaming, you're just the proud owner of what will surely be the best True
Metal album of 2004 (we'll know once Edguy's Hellfire Club
is out I guess). This concept about a vampire being turned, discovering what
it is to be a creature of the night and then turning against its master is the
perfect ground to let the album escalates through the 70+ minutes of heavenly
music. One thing is for sure : Heavenly made a warp speed jump
and with this album the bands enters my top 10 bands (positionning themselves
VERY high in that shortlist).
On the art cover side, I like the concept of the illustration but just like
for Sign Of The Winner, the overall image could have been realized
much better, especially in terms of colors where the overly contrasted use of
Red, Green and Black could have seen a much better end result with a better
balanced color scheme. The band also seems to be struggling for a logo... 3
albums, and 3 logos, none of which really fits the band's heavenly features
(actually the more it goes, the less the logo fits the band's music). I sure
hope the current logo won't be the one that the band will keep, but that's of
course just a little detail.
And I thought I wouldn't have lots to say... well, unless you didn't get it
from my review or unless you jumped to end out of boredom, this is the album
you can't miss if you're a true metal fan ! A pure, majestical demonstration
of melodic perfection while remaining extremly heavy at the same time. Heavier
and more melodic than Mandrake, as epic and majestic as both Avantasia's
album, this is without any doubt the killer album I didn't even dreamt of !
I must have listen to this album 50 times already, and each and everytime I
listen to it : I'm on my knees. Outstanding musicianship, inspired songwriting,
incredible vocals, power and majesty like never before intermixed on a single
CD ! If you must buy only one CD in January, let alone in 2004, let it be this
one ! Happy new metal year, thanks to Heavenly.