Dreamland Manor

Although there have been a number of bands that tried to imitate or revive Blind Guardian's unique and universally crowd pleasing sound of very hard power metal that is slapping the Dark Moor's of this world back into the moldy hole from where they came from, the debut of Savage Circus will always be the one for me that came closest to the pumped up feeling and joyful aesthetic of one of the most influential melodic speed metal bands in metal's bitter and confusing history. Of course, having a seasoned drummer involved in the process that played in Blind Guardian for almost two decades on all of their legendary albums certainly helps. You can't play "Journey Through the Dark" a thousand times without being an absolute badass that deserves even his piss praised like it is made from the golden tears of angels. I am very sorry that I just wrote that. I am in love with this record and therefore can't think straight.

Thomas Stauch left his original band because of creative differences (and maybe some bitchy bickerings, who knows? These guys spent a loooot of years together, that can breed some old married couple style resentment for sure), his desire was to leave the ambitious and complicated choir symphonies behind, remove a stick from the ass of the music he lived and breathed for so many fucking years and to aim straight again for the heart of the tried and true speedy pounding underneath easily accessible but still tasteful melodies. And because he got some help from some very very talented people that have been in the business for almost as long as him, he succeded beyond all expectations. Maybe even his own. Most certainly mine. Fuck yeah!

Jens' voice is simply fantastic and on this particular record he melted my heart like Hansi did it in the days of old. His pipes with their impressive volume can be shrill and aggressive without ever losing the delicate touch of a gentle summernight lover that just wants the best for you, he puts dreamy longings and pure unfiltered power into one great package that shines even brighter when everything is arranged in classic power metal fabrics and patterns without disturbing experiments or exhausting tricks. But despite the lack of stylistic innovation and the urge to polish a dusty artistic relic, everything still sounds fresh, youthful, hungry, proud and forward because this man can kick so much fucking ass with his adorable lungs that it almost makes me tremendously sad because there are not many power metal albums out there that really celebrate the need to emphasize the "power" that their own freaking style is named after. Every power metal album triumphs or falls with its singer and Jens kicked every offender into a coma with his gorgeous melodic roaring. Yes!

A lot could have gone wrong in the guitar department, but nothing did. Like the vocals, the rhythm and lead guitars excel in bringing all of the possible strengths of the well known and faithful power metal passion to the table. Meaty, heavy palm muted riffing over Thomen's much beloved stampede is crushing front and center, the melodic leads are as catchy as possible without losing themselves in any kind of showy pretension.The choirs are a tasty dish of full, masculine bravado, perfectly timed, not overused and in sync with the adventurous speed and fury of the compositions. And the snare. The bass drum. What might. What insolence. What deliciously good recording and mixing quality. Opened up like an expensive wine bottle. This is how you flavor your drums, ladies and gentlemen! Authentic, human, crushing every soft spot. Hell, they got everything right on this.

It could be argued that this record is playing it safe by relying on things that were invented twenty years before, but when the finished product is so professional, the complete opposite of everything half assed in this genre and just so god damn catchy, I give my blessing to the general idea behind it. A power metal classic and a singalong wonder for many, many months.

Savage Circus was a band started by Thomen Stauch in response to his growing disappointment with Blind Guardian’s direction at the time (during the mid-2000s). What better way to show this, but with a song not that far removed from Imaginations from the Other Side? Seriously, from the speed metal riffing to the big chorus and the fact that Jens Carlsson is about as close to Hansi Kursch soundalike as you’re going to get, this song couldn’t be any more Blind Guardian without just outright calling it a Blind Guardian song. Granted, thanks to the tag-team of Emil Norberg and Piet Sielck, the riffing is a bit chunkier than on Imaginations. The amount of force put behind these riffs, coupled with Carlsson’s more aggressive approach, definitely gives the song a real push – and with the riffing being as melodic as it is speedy and the chorus as catchy as it is big, the song is a real fuckin’ treat to listen to. As in 2021, as it was in 2005.

...then yeah, Dreamland Manor drops off hard after that. I understand it’s quite a tall order to one-up Imaginations from the Other Side. But you know, when you nail it so hard with the opening song, how can you look at the rest of the album without being disappointed? You get a lot of those screaming notes like in Imaginations; you get a lot of the more pugilistic speed metal riffing from Iron Savior’s first four album; and you get a lot of that rich melodicism once done best by Blind Guardian that Persuader now do best. It’s just that, for the most part, they’re all compartmentalized into generic German power metal trying to recall Blind Guardian. Even insofar as the second song is concerned – even looking past the blaring sign flashing “I’m Alive” like it’s the fourth of July – there’s this vaguely catchy chorus and a lead barrage trying to turn this Iron Savior song into a Blind Guardian joint – oh goddammit there I go again!

But that’s just it! A lot of the songs run through the gamut of Condition Red B-sides, and your local pub band covering Imaginations. Except it’s at least fun when Darren, Darryl and Big Kev are drunkenly reciting “Titans of Our Time” and “Another Holy War”; hearing Norberg, Sielck and Stauch sleepwalking through them isn’t. So, when “Between the Devil and the Seas” comes barrelling forth, yeah sure, the chorus will stick in your mind, but the verses come across like they really, really wanted to replicate Imaginations. Which is still more than I can say for a lot of the album going forward where the speedy power metal riffing faded away into the background – I had this shit at full blast and I might as well have lowered the volume to like 2, it was that far into the background. The choruses fail to capture that innate sense of catchiness and the riffs couldn’t come across more generic without it all coming from fucking Band Maker. There is some pulse to be found on the last three tracks, particularly the ending track “Born Again By the Night” which does sound like a more full-throttled attempt at a speedy Blind Guardian track, but by that point, most listeners are already gone and there isn’t a whole lot of reward to be gained out of waiting… except, I guess, for a fairly good track at the very end.

There’s some merit to Dreamland Manor, if only to say that the genre’s veterans had wanted to maintain this sound after Blind Guardian had moved on. But the thing is that we sort of already had that in the forms of Iron Savior and Persuader. Condition Red, Evolution Purgatory and especially When Eden Burns had already shown this parallel universe of where Blind Guardian would go if not the overly operatic direction taken since A Nightfall in Middle-Earth. Dreamland Manor doesn’t quite do it, under any kind of circumstance. Even divorcing it of the standards set by the members in the band and the albums that they had produced – and certainly the one that they had wanted to replicate – it’s a decent enough album that has this one killer song, these three decently good ones and a bunch that just don’t really cut it. They’re fine for a gym workout – like you’re trying to overhead press 100kg and you didn’t land on the ballad that is “Beyond Reality” – but other than that, it’s about the time where power metal was starting to go to shit anyway and this shows the slow decay...

While I posit that Dreamland Manor is the true successor to the 1995 Blind Guardian album Imaginations from the Other Side (which I assume most readers will be somewhat familiar with), I will begin by briefly addressing Hansi Kursch's idea that Blind Guardian's 2015 album Beyond the Red Mirror is also a sort of successor to Imaginations. To clarify, this is clearly only meant in the sense of lyrical concepts, as anyone who has listened to both Imaginations and Beyond the Red Mirror can easily tell that there are few musical similarities past the fact that both are power metal. The 2005 debut from Savage Circus, on the other hand, is the successor to Imaginations inasmuch as it's closer musically to Imaginations than any other album I'm currently aware of. Certainly the similarities are very strong, and will be examined in some detail.

A large part of the reason for the similarities, I assume, lies in former Blind Guardian drummer Thomen "The Omen" Stauch, who initially formed Savage Circus and takes care of drumming duties on Dreamland Manor. While I'm not sure how much influence he had on the songwriting, I assume it was a significant amount. Regardless, the person or persons who were behind the songwriting clearly listened to Imaginations and decided they wanted to create an experience that was as similar as possible. It's certainly no accident that vocalist Jens Carlsson is about as close to a dead ringer for Hansi Kursch as I've ever heard. He sounds a bit more raw and manic perhaps, but for worship of this Blind Guardian era, it seems to me that can only be a boon to the overall sound. We've also got Piet Sielck of Iron Savior on guitars, alongside Emil Norberg, who plays in Persuader with Carlsson. The lineup is definitely pretty strong, and seems pretty promising on an initial glance.

The ultimate results are mixed, but lean toward the positive side. "Evil Eyes" and "Tomorrowland" in particular are excellent, and rival pretty much any song on Imaginations. The former is evocative of "Another Holy War," with the main riffs sounding vaguely similar while the chorus sounds like someone wanted to create a variation of the "Another Holy War" chorus that sounds as similar as possible without being a literal plagiarism. This description may not sound flattering, but make no mistake, the song is top-notch power metal, with Carlsson's passionate belting in the chorus possibly even outdoing Hansi's in "Another Holy War." Whenever I hear it, I can't help but feel the urge to sing along to the glorious lines: Life and death embrace in the morning, shadows of the final dawning!. "Tomorrowland" is of similar quality, this time sounding more like the titular Blind Guardian track "Imaginations from the Other Side." While the main riffs are again only vaguely similar, at the very end a riff pops in that's at least 90% the same as that of "Imaginations." Seriously, listen to the two songs side by side, especially with "Tomorrowland" first and then immediately into "Imaginations," and it's impossible to miss. This clearly had to be intentional, though with Thomen in the band it's hard to exactly call it plagiarism. More like an homage, I suppose.

The other tracks aren't quite on the same level, but they're still quite enjoyable. They all sound like something that could have come from Imaginations, but none of them really sound quite as similar to one specific song as "Evil Eyes" and "Tomorrowland" do. For example, in "The Gathering," I hear touches of "A Script for My Requiem" throughout, and a bit of "I'm Alive" in the guitar solo, but not enough from either track to say it sounds specifically like a copy. It is interesting that the two best songs on the album sound inspired by one specific song; it makes me wonder that, had they simply done a 1:1 reimagining of every song on Imaginations from the Other Side, the album might be even better. However, this is impossible to say, and the album is certainly good enough as is. "Beyond Reality" is certainly a bit on the long side for a ballad, and cheesier than most of Blind Guardian's ballad, but still works to the extent that it doesn't detract much from the experience of the album.

The other tracks are what you'd expect, to varying degrees of success but always still fairly good, better than the vast majority of power metal bands out there. I'll also posit that this is at least in part due to the presence of Thomen - while the drumming is rarely the highlight of the album, it just seems that albums which include him are always better; Blind Guardian hasn't put out a classic since he left, and the followup Savage Circus album sans Thomen is utterly bland and forgettable. Whatever the reason, anyway, Dreamland Manor is a solid piece of Blind Guardian worship recommended for fans of (obviously) Blind Guardian, Persuader, Iron Savior, etc. It's not a classic, but it's not completely talentless and derivative, either. The next time you feel like giving Imaginations a spin and are simply tired of it, try Dreamland Manor instead.

One of the main discussions that can occur is considering the possibility of two or three bands jamming together, and what would emerge. They could be as crazy a combination as Public Enemy and Anthrax, or they could be slightly more realistic like the birth of Savage Circus. The creation of (now ex-)drummer of Blind Guardian, Thomas Stauch, this debut also includes creative input from Persuader and Iron Savior. On paper, it sounds like a sensible suggestion, if executed correctly...

So what is to be expected? Power-metal riffs flying everywhere, keys either matching them or setting the atmosphere in the background, with galloping bass and pounding drums to keep the rhythm going. And that's exactly what this album delivers on most of the tracks. Strong opener “Evil Eyes” exemplifies this, and Stauch's choice of Jens Carlsson immediately becomes apparent due to his ability to sound almost identical to Hansi Kürsch. To give him credit, though, he does showcase a range of styles taken from his own band as well as Blind Guardian, most prominently in “Between The Devil And The Seas”.
Unfortunately, the lyrics could do with a little reworking. I realize that power metal lyrics generally delve into the realm of fantasy and magic, but lines such as “I close my eyes and I make a wish/Bring me home to Tomorrowland” do not lend much credibility to the band. That said, the delivery makes the lyrics a lot more bearable than solely reading them.

From the first to last moment, this band do not beat about the bush in wearing their respective bands on their sleeves, although in terms of production the drums come out strongest in general. The rhythm guitars are occasionally lower in the mix, although the leads and solos come through well. Bass, as can be expected, does not make much of an appearance aside from during “Tomorrowland” and the solo section of “Beyond Reality”, but gets the job done elsewhere too.
Not being overly familiar with Iron Savior, I can't speak much for Piet Sielck and Yenz Leonhardt, although their guitar- & bassplaying fit in smoothly with the others, there's never a moment of clashing.

When not galloping along at high speeds, the band do slow down half-way through with a semi-ballad. Laden in orchestral and acoustic sections, and with a slightly lackluster performance from Carlsson, this song ends up being one of the more forgettable ones on the album, lost amidst the faster-paced ones. Also interesting to note is the transition throughout the album from a Blind Guardian influence to a Persuader one, the ballad marking a turning point.

Aside from the slight lack of originality in the album, there are a couple of things that stop me from truly falling in love with this project and keep it to an occasional spin when in the mood. Firstly, the production really does get overbearing on the drumming front, especially on “Ghost Story”. There's also the factor of song length, and sometimes I find myself impatiently waiting for a repeat chorus to end, or for the extended drum outro on “Born Again By The Night” to end. Even my favorite track, “When Hell Awakes”, is marred by these problems, although they don't stop me from headbanging along.

So in short, if you are an avid fan of either Blind Guardian or Persuader, and need something to tide you over, then this will surely appeal to your musical taste buds. For an avid fan of the genre, give this album a try as a worthy addition to your collection. For a casual fan looking to get into this sort of power metal, check out the original bands instead for something more authentic.

Originally found on: http://mostlymetal.wordpress.com

Savage Circus, a band featuring very competent musicians from Iron Savior, Persuader and Blind Guardian. Dreamland Manor sounds exactly how you would think it does. A mixture of Iron Savior and Persuader, a vocal style by Jens Carlsson which is a bit toned down, not as aggressive nor as good as his excellent Persuader/Dark Empire work and of course lots of Blind Guardian mannerisms that Thomen carried over from that band.

This is definitely a power metal album that doesn't try to hide that fact. It splits the difference between the heaviness of your typical German and American power metal bands, having quite catchy/melodic chorus but and being quite fast and aggressive for this genre at times. If you have had heard any of Blind Guardian's first five albums just think of power metal infused with speed elements styling they have shown you there and you will have the groundwork of this album under wraps.

Now everything on Dreamland Manor is performed at top execution and musicianship. There are some fantastic segments e.g the solo in Evil Eyes, incredible catchy chorus of Waltz of the Demon and many more noteworthy parts, but there isn't much in the way of new and unique ideas in the mix. It gets to the point where they either try to purposely or they subconsciously emulate several elements of Blind Guardian albums most specifically Somewhere Far Beyond and Imaginations From the Other Side e.g rhythm/lead guitar tones and ideas, identical backing vocals and of course the drum work of Thomen Stauch. Lyrical themes and even some of the lyrics themselves have either been directly lifted or spliced with some their own original lyrics as well e.g Blind Guardian's Black Chamber and Savage Circus's Between the Devil and the Seas.

Vocally I think Jens Carlsson doesn't sound like a Hansi Kursch clone in Carlsson's other band endeavors, I mean they were comparable at closest there but here I will perceive the point of his vocal delivery was to resemble Kursch as much as possible due to the calmer tone and multiple layered vocal parts.

If you're looking for high quality power metal and are a fan of any of the other bands that Savage Circus members have been in then you would benefit from a listen of Dreamland Manor. The glaring problems that make this not get a much higher rating are lack of uniqueness and inability to find it's own musical identity but if you can get past those issues then you have much to look forward to. The execution in Dreamland Manor makes up for it's severe lack of innovation.

Power metal is kind of dead to me. Most of the old-style bands (Blind Guardian, Yngwie Malmsteen, Manowar, Helloween) have fallen into redundancy, making way for a lot of new-style bands that have never known anything but redundancy (Masterplan, Edguy, Twilightning). But every once in a while a fresh face comes along and delivers a nice performance that gives me hope for the genre. In this case, it’s Savage Circus. They don’t deliver anything new on their debut, Dreamland Manor, but what they do deliver is solid.

For a latter-day power metal release, Dreamland Manor is surprisingly intense. Rather than utilize the power of modern production to cover up their own inadequacy (as a lesser band might, see Demons and Wizards), Savage Circus use it to add an extra layer of brutality to their already devastating sound. “Brutal” and “devastating” are not typically words used to describe music by a band that features elves and goblins on their album covers, but they’re fairly applicable here, making Masterplan sound like Whitesnake by comparison. Guitars and drums are the predominant instruments in the mix, while keyboards are less so. There’s a fair amount of integration present in the form of harpsichord, violin, and other effects, but the songs rely on the rhythm section and the vocals. Speaking of vocals, Jens Carlsson strikes me as a second-rate Russell Allen, but he does manage to pull his weight and covers a broad range while maintaining a darker tone than many of his peers. This helps to legitimize some of the more derivative lyrics and upkeep the image that this isn’t your average power metal group.

But really, this album is a treat for guitarists and drummers. Thomen Stauch is a monster behind his kit and the production lets every hit rattle around in your head, while Emil Norberg and Piet Sielck’s classically inspired riffage is both intimidating and ear-pleasing. The songs produced by this group are also ear-pleasing in that while they never overstep the bounds of what is acceptably power metal, they manage to be genuine. The band has their own sound, despite bearing similarities to other genre mainstays, and a lot of times it resembles old video game music (a lot of Mega Man melodies come to mind), which for me is always a good thing.

That the lyrics are predictable and the choir vocals get a bit annoying are about all I can complain about this release, which means it’s pretty fucking good. Perhaps not a legendary album, but how many of those do you find that were released in 2005 anyway? Definitely worth looking into.


*DISCLAIMER* - I'm not familiar with later period Blind Guardian, so if this album's sound is copped directly from their stuff, I apologize for the high score.

Recently registering, though by no means a novice in the metal evolution (with 20 wasted years of metal mania), I had to meticulously select a special album for my first review.. I hope it doesn't suck...

Simply put, Dreamland Manor is one of the BEST albums in the history of power metal.. The talented quartet speaks the ultimatum of power - the catchy melodies of Blind Guardian, the insane intensity of Persuader, and the clean riffs of Iron Savior..

This album is a mixture between speed and power metal but the power metal section is more dominant than the speed metal section There are no highlights in this album. Every song is a masterpiece. The first 30 seconds of Evil Eyes covered me in sweat from head to toe. I knew this was no ordinary album. Between the Devil & the Sea pumps the adrenaline into every vein as you hear Carlsson's screams touch every nerve in your brain. It's needless to go on complimenting every song as they are flawless.. with special mention to Born Again By the Night - an all-time favourite with perhaps the best chorus in the album..

I only disagree with SC being the clones of BG.. Though there are similarities, I must say, albeit shyly, that I find SC more direct and less meandering through various musical compositions with their riffs more powerful than BG's. Looks like Jens has found his perfect buddies - His voice cuts are better than Persuader's.

In short, this is a must-have-die-if-you-don't piece of art

The passage of time can have a drastic impact on one's perspective regarding a work of art, as further education and nostalgia serve to either clarify or distort the formerly held impression of said effort. In its brief time in the sun, Savage Circus was mostly either dismissed or embraced as the lone rebellion of Thomas Stauch against the more commercial and overblown direction his former band Blind Guardian had started down following the mid 1990s. While this perception was not inaccurate, it did fail to account for the other parties involved in this band, most particularly that of Piet Sielck, who had worked with Blind Guardian in the past as an engineer and had a far more methodical critique of their 2002 effort A Night At The Opera, which he summed up as "A mess of tracks in search of a song" to the author of this review in a brief online correspondence just prior to the release of Savage Circus' debut LP. Indeed, the aforementioned Blind Guardian effort could be looked at as a sort of canary in the coal mine that unintentionally stumbled upon the more commercialized and less speed metal oriented incarnation of said band that emerged on 2006's A Twist In The Myth, if not the massive stylistic shift that rocked the power metal world at around the same time.

In keeping with this bit of obscure power metal history that includes some of my own anecdotal experience as a young trustee of the turn of the millennium power metal revival, the creature that is both Savage Circus and its rather unoriginal yet extremely potent and powerful album Dreamland Manor presents a curious eventuality, namely the concept of a reactionary power metal album. Though the original power metal scene was not fully killed off the way its American counterparts were by the grunge/alternative rock scene of the 1990s, it was relegated to underground status, and it is arguably that period of hardship that helped to mold the 90s efforts of German bands like Grave Digger, Running Wild, Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian into the masterworks that they became. It could be stipulated that Piet sensed, either consciously and unconsciously, that the success his scene had achieved would lead to weakness and complacency, thus the relentless and uncompromising powerhouse of a speed metal effort that this album turned out to be, one that is not only similar in style to the mid-90s classic Imaginations From The Other Side but also born of a similarly defiant spirit, one which also functioned as a flagship offering for Sielck's newly birthed Dockyard 1 Records label, itself a collective of bands representing a more impact-based and old school power metal sound.

Impact-based is actually the best word to sum up the way this album unloads on the listener, as the combination of Stauch's thrash-like speed metal drumming and Piet's nuanced sense of songwriting and melody are perfectly translated into a colossus of riff happy goodness. The involvement of two principle members of the similarly Blind Guardian-inspired Persuader are likewise consequential beyond their competency at emulating the sounds of Hansi Kürsch and André Olbrich, as both of them were heavily involved in the songwriting process and vocalist Jens Carlsson assisted Piet Selick in lyrical composition. In essence, one might dub this a Blind Guardian tribute album of sorts, save for the fact that Selick and Norberg trade leads in a manner more reminiscent of Kai Hansen and Michael Weikath, and that Piet's vocal input into the album goes a bit further than a simple support role. In actuality, the overall musicality of this album is far less nuanced and varied than even the seminal Blind Guardian albums that it takes influence from, and carries a greater concentration of aggression and speed by distilling the essence of said band's sound from the first half of the 1990s and de-emphasizing the folksy balladry and atmospheric asides that were themselves only an occasional fancy prior to Nightfall On Middle Earth.

The only aspect of this album that represents an even more clear break with the prototypical Blind Guardian sound than the greater degree of aggression is the generally epic scope of the songs. While Thomen's ex-band mates were not averse to writing songs that meandered a bit thematically and went beyond standard radio length, things here generally eschew the idea of keeping things concise and comes chock full of noodling leads, shifts in feel and areas of development. On the more conservative side of things are Stauch's own exclusive compositions in "Evil Eyes" and "It - The Gathering" that take the speed metal fury of classics like "Born In A Mourning Hall" and "Time What Is Time" and extends them in a manner more comparable to the epic title songs of each respective album, while the ballad "Beyond Reality" sees the high fantasy tropes of classic Blind Guardian delivered in a less bard-like and more theatrical power ballad context. In contrast, the other six songs that round out the collective songwriting efforts of the entire band take a decidedly darker tone both lyrically and musically that is more in line with Persuader's signature sound, with adventurous excursions into quasi-progressive territory like "Ghost Story" and "Waltz Of The Demon" taking the furthest steps outside of the Blind Guardian template, whereas swift-paced and somewhat shorter riff monsters like "Between The Devil And The Seas" and "Born Again By The Night" would have fit into the mid-90s repertoire of said band with a simple change of lyrical subject.

In a sense, Dreamland Manor is the successor to Imaginations From The Other Side that many would have liked to have heard in the late 90s. It presents a what if scenario where Blind Guardian decided to ratchet up the aggression and write longer songs rather than take a more tonally saturated and conceptual left-turn that ended up yielding an undoubted classic in Nightfall In Middle Earth, and while I contend that said album was the greatest effort out of said band thus far, it did inevitably pave the way for a diminished product in subsequent years. In the context of power metal history, however, this album presents an unapologetic voice of stylistic conservatism that cut against the grain when considering the lackluster AOR-infused offerings of Edguy, Freedom Call and a few others at the time, while also standing in contrast to the exaggerated technical forays and overtly happy-go-lucky works of the likes of Dragonforce and Power Quest. Sadly it proved to be a short-lived super group as Thomas Stauch's personal issues caused him to jump ship before things could really take off, relegating Piet Sielck to the task of keeping things going while juggling a label, his own duties as a producer and an already established band in Iron Savior. Nevertheless, the lone LP that this fold managed to put together is an undeniable classic that has yet to be fully appreciated for what it set out to achieve.

(Rewritten on February 25th, 2018)

Well when people complained that Persuader sounded awfully a lot like Blind Guardian and Iron Savior, what did they do? They said screw them, went and teamed up with Blind Guardian’s ex-drummer Thomen Stauch and Iron Savior’s Piet Sielck on bass, guitar and backing vocals. And of course, from Persuader you have Jens Karlsson (vocals) and Emil Norberg (guitar). Together they created a masterpiece which is their debut album with a refreshing sound. Even though the resemblance with Persuader is patent, the album is more melodic and Sielck’s backing vocals create a great effect misleading us to think at times that the band hired an orchestra (which is not the case).

The loveable thing about Dreamland Manor is that it is intense from beginning to end. As seen in Persuader, there isn’t any crappy ballad to come and ruin the atmosphere. The only slow stuff on Dreamland Manor would be the intro to The Waltz Of The Demon and Beyond Reality which are two great songs. The guitar riffs are in the exact same style as Persuader, catchy as hell, clean, new and incredibly melodic. One after the other you let yourself be enthralled by its melodies and by the very nice and soothing solos. But everyone will agree that what compliments those great guitar riffs are Karlsson’s brilliant vocals. It seems like his vocals are even better on this album where you even have the chance of hearing him doing clean vocals (Waltz Of The Demon) which sound fantastic. And everyone will be very happy to see that Karlsson keeps on doing his signature move; when he sings and then the instruments go dead leaving only him and his semi-harsh screams. This is done nicely in Ghost Story when he screams “Let me die” and is present in every other songs too. Bass lines are also very pleasant (when the sound is put up that is), but could have been a bit heavier in order to have this contrast between the high vocals and guitar melodies.

In no case would anyone be displeased by this album. Every criterion for an album to be called a masterpiece is fulfilled with this album. The gathering of these four amazing musicians truly created something great in the veins of Persuader. And whoever still complains about Karlsson’s vocals resembling those of Hansi Kursch should get over it, because Karlsson’s vocals are much better than Kursch’s. I could not have asked for more, this melodic blast will probably be 2005’s greatest album. Highlights of Dreamland Manor? Well everything, there’s absolutely no filler song. This gets a perfect rating 100%, Persuader’s vocalist and guitarist truly are young metal gods.

DarkDryad

http://www.mansionofmetal.com