| CD REVIEW Dream Of Illusion |
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Band : Dream Of Illusion Aha, now let's see what I can tell you about this find Italian Heavy Metal band. Based in the town of Legnano (situated at only 24 km in NW direction from Milano, which is after all one of the most important industrial centres in the North of the Italy, I suppose we can call it a suburb of this city), the band was founded in 2003 with a very young line-up, and the guys honed their skills on their individual instruments playing covers of songs by the likes of Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, Deep Purple, and many more. 2005 became a turning point in the band's career, as they were given the opportunity to play a couple of festivals in Italy and abroad, share stages with high-profile international acts. The experience inspired the band members to start writing their own material, their weapon of choice (musically speaking), being Heavy Metal with additional influences. But band stability was shaky for a moment there, a situation which changed in a positive way when new frontman Francesco Valentini joined guitarists Ricardo De Fanti & Andrea Giarola, bassist Marco Melegaro, and drummer Gianluca Raisi in 2007. DOI now gradually moved away from the many band contests of their past and started hitting the live club circuit on their own with rising popularity as a result. In early Summer 2009 the quintet entered the Remaster Studio with recording & mixing engineer Nick Salvo to record the 12 songs plus intro and outro for their full-length debut, songs off which they already posted at (www.) myspace.com/dreamofillusion in August of that same year. Since then, they've been shopping for a label, and eventually SG Records was brave enough to take on the band. Actually, I've been wondering whether that label may have released this album earlier in Italy, and how thís may therefore possibly be a re-issue through 7Hard for the European market. Whatever is the case, I'm certain many Heavy Metal fans of old are gonna like this Italian act. In their biography the band befittingly describes their sound as “Solid Heavy Metal of American origin, with melodies that recall the more biting power in Germany”, and and that certainly concurs with what I hear on the album. For the younger music fans unfamiliar with the US Metal genre, expect slightly progressive runs with great melodic guitars chanting throughout the track-list! The singer has a nice and warm high pitch, borderline heady voice, with only a slight touch of accent. The album's intro and outro (quite inspiration-less also titled that way) consist of nice introvert keyboard play (multi-layered atmospherics in the case of the intro, and piano play in the second) and constitute the album's breather passages. More keyboard additions (and not only in song intros) can be found occasionally elsewhere on the album, but although occasionally real nice additions to the whole, they're nót an integral part of the band's sound, which is in fact basically guitar-geared. Oh well, just check out the 3 audio tracks (plus video for an additional track) and you'll find out soon enough whether you like this band or not! Personally, I was quite charmed! 87/100 Tony. |
