Enclosed

Double bass aplenty, speedy guitar chugging, high pitched vocals, and overtly melodic keys are the special of the day for Spain's power metal sextet Dreamaker. Formed after the death of Dark Moor, members Elisa C.Martín on vocals, guitarist Albert Maroto, keyboard player Roberto P.Camus and drummer Jorge Sáez took on this new undertaking with similar roots to their old band, but taken on with a newer, more aggressive sound. 2005's Enclosed is the latest endeavor of this group, and it can easily be described as uncharacteristic. Upon first listen to this album, I got the sense that it was just another run of the mill power metal album. It has similar double bass, keyboards, and ball grabbing vocals that are fairly standard packaging for most of the bands in the scene. However, upon further listens and absortion of the material at hand, I began to realize this release, while being fairly standard in nature, has quite a bit of originality to it. Foe example, there is some blast beat action on Perfect Soul, making this only the second power metal album I have ever heard that uses blast beats. Despite all these nifty additions to the album though, it still falls flat for me. This album is missing the energy and catchy hooks that keeps the popular power metal bands clinging to the spotlight (see Edguy's latest outing, Hellfire Club as a prime example). Hopefully these guys have a good sized fanbase, or else I don't see this group lasting much more than a few years max. The vocals are not something I am very fond of either. It is quite cool that a female is belting out on this album, but its so completely obvious that special effects and uber production helped cover up vocal flaws that it just completely turns me off. In addition to the main set of pipes, the background male vocals are quite a bit worse and leaves MUCH to be desired for this record. With a replacement vocalist, its entirely possible this band could sound better, I wouldn't bet on it though. For those who are die hard power metal fans, pick this one up--it may provide you with a pleasant surprise. For the layman, steer clear and pick up the latest from Edguy, Falconer, and Brainstorm. Dreamaker represents yet another power metal act that is trying to spice things up with some originality, but they end up falling short as a band pretending to be better than they actually are.