Torn Between Two Worlds

Though the eulogies were written without a body to speak of, it was a foregone conclusion that by the mid-90s that metal, and particularly the older melodic strains that dominated the 80s were a lost art. Be this as it may, it is when times are their darkest that a determined resistance will not only form, but often push back in ways that will serve to baffle the understanding of historians after the fact. Naturally the 90s were not wholly bereft of bands making impressive strides when seeing the explosion of progressive bands coming out of Europe following the success of Dream Theater, and there was a nascent power/prog scene developing parallel to the power metal revival that started to pick up steam thanks to the mid-90s game-changer albums that were Blind Guardian's Imaginations From The Other Side and Gamma Ray's Land Of The Free. But there was something of a wildcard factor brewing in France, arguably one of the less fertile areas for metal at the time, a sort of blast from the not so distant past that had the potential to usher in a concurrent revival of an older variant of the power progressive style before the advent of Fates Warning's Perfect Symmetry and DT's When Dream And Day Unite, something with a little more bite to go with the obligatory technical grandeur.

France's Dream Child is a band that is probably only known as the original band of Dominique Leurguin, famed guitar shredder and fellow traveller of Luca Turilli's various projects throughout the past 2 decades, but closer inspection reveals a band that has plenty of credibility to go around. Though existing since the dawn of the 90s, their debut LP Torn Between Two Worlds didn't officially see the light of day until 1996, and featured arguably one of the more bizarre album cover arts in the genre's history (not sure if its a homage to Cyborg from the DC extended universe splitting apart The Unity more than 20 years before the Justice League movie was released or a Sci-Fi twist on Hellraiser meets Tales From The Crypt). Nevertheless, the music that emerges from this quirky venture into the visually surreal presents one of the more effective blends of power and progressive metal to ever come out of the 90s, splitting the difference between the faster, speed metal-infused approach to power metal pioneered by Halloween with the more aggressive USPM variant represented in Helstar and Omen, often incorporating some of the more progressive atmospheric aesthetics of Queensryche's The Warning and Fates Warning's The Spectre Within to go along with some subtle elements taken from the early 90s advancements made by Dream Theater.

In essence, this highly obscure masterpiece is a missing link in the chain of succession between the original progressive power sound of the mid-80s with the eventual revival of the sound that took place in the early 2000s with the rise of bands like Shadowkeep and Jacobs Dream, standing alongside the early efforts of Kamelot with original vocalist Mark Vanderbilt. In addition to being of a highly ambitious and epic character, it is also a sound where the vocalist's gymnastic maneuvers will often trade blows with the flashy guitar work, as evidenced by the highly competent channeling of high-pitched screamers like Geoff Tate and Midnight by vocalist Gérard Fois, all but time-warping the entire album back 10 years before its release to a day when shattering glass was standard procedure for a metal helmsman. The resulting mixture of these two dominant forces with a solid rhythm section supplied by two equally green newcomers in drummer Alain Blanc (who shows a similar degree of competency in rhythmic precision to that of Mark Zonder while also often displaying speedy tendencies comparable to Ingo Schwichtenberg) and bassist Sylvain Cochet makes for a formidable sonic outcome, one that manages to hit with the same force as material put out 10 years later despite having a rough, rustic production sound along similar lines to the early Helstar albums.

Perhaps the only thing even more impressive than the high level of technical competency displayed by all four of these untested players is the wide array of expressions that manifest in the songwriting that lay at the foundation of their respective contributions. Though purported to carry a Sci-Fi theme, this album displays a fair degree of horror and fantastical elements to go along for the ride, touching just about every possible base that was originally set by the progressive metal forerunners of the 80s. The creepy, mid-paced stride and dissonant character of crushers like "You Shall Lie In Hell", "Same Old Song" and "Reign Is Crumbling" hearken the closest to the old guard USPM sound, though even among more cruising speed metal fair that tends towards the Helloween model like "Train Of Fools" and "Eternal Flight" there is a strong hint of riff-centered character of the American sound that gives things a darker feel, sort of like a side order of "Red Sharks" or "Baptized In Blood" to go along with the main course of "Ride The Sky" and "Victim Of Fate". Things do take on a slightly more triumphant tone when the speed infused majesty of "Roll The Dice", but more often than not, the primary alternative to biting USPM riff work is the early Queensryche-influenced dreary balladry of "Torn Between Two Worlds", "Create A New World" and "Heavy Dance Of Chaos".

The term criminally underrated is thrown around fairly often in metal circles, owing largely to the sheer amount of music put out is at least equal to, if not greater than the numbers comprised in its target audience. Be this as it may, Torn Between Two Worlds is one of those albums that is more than worth of this title. It goes beyond simply offering that "road not taken" scenario fulfilled for any one band that either abandoned a superior sound or called it quits before taking said sound to its conclusion. It speaks for an entire expression within the power metal paradigm that was almost completely lost from metal culture due to the rise of glam and later alternative rock/metal in America, and to an extent the ascendancy of the more melodic strain of power metal that took root in Europe following the early success of Helloween. Yet more so than speaking for the old progressive strain of USPM embodied in the magnum opuses of Queensryche, Crimson Glory and Fates Warning, it's also an album that builds off of what they accomplished without full cloning their sound, and can stand toe to toe with them in a comparative sense. It is a testament to this album's strength that despite swimming against a seemingly insurmountable tide of dismissal of this style by even the metal world, this album would ultimately catch the attention of Metal Blade Records and result in Dream Child's adoption by said label for their sophomore outing. Embrace your cyborg half and give this album the due attention it has yet to receive, or suffer forever in the parallel netherworld of what you might have experienced.

The cover art certainly won't urge anyone to buy this album, also complete with (at the time, since the guitarist has now been with Rhapsody and others) no name band members and cheap packaging. We aren't exactly sure what to expect with all these bad signs pointing the way to mediocrity, but luckily all the important stuff (example: the music) is of great quality, and virtually everything is surprising about this album: the powerful vocals (including excellent high-pitch screams) and classic Maiden style guitar of Gerard Fois, high quality drumming, and the fact that it's good at all.

Vocals are great, like I mentioned before. They're really powerful, with a sort of natural grit that sometimes doesn't exist with vocals that sing high frequently. And trust me, he does exactly that, hitting every note required for the journey, while still staying about mid-range most of the time. The same guy also does guitar, and I guess he's just lucky that he is so good at both.
The guitar is awesome and old-school sounding, (and then again, so is this whole album) a sort of a mix of Iron Maiden and Fates Warning riffs. It's one of the few things that transfers well on production, but I'll get back to that in a minute. Drums are good sounding and are competently played. Just one statement about the bass: is there even a bass player? I think you get the idea: the bass might as well be silent, which is a problem.

As I alluded to before, the production is pretty much terrible, something Dream Child probably can't control because of their low-budget, mystery record company (Brennus?). Vocals are too loud and there's just this strange distortion surrounding all of it. Drums and guitar aren't too bad, though.
I also recommend Reaching the Golden Gates as well, as it is of about equal quality. This is some good traditional/progressive metal, and it would be a shame for you to pass it up because of it's cheap look: don't judge a book by its cover.