Well, here’s a release I can easily see falling through the Angry Metal Cracks. One is the first (and maybe last) release by a supergroup of sorts led by Michael Andersson, vocalist for Swedish melodic metallers Cloudscape and featuring members of such renowned acts as Dream Evil, Hammerfall and Yngwie Malmsteen. Now, we all know supergroups can be very iffy propositions and Fullforce is no different. It seems whenever a group of talented musicians get jammed into a room to write and record, disaster is as likely to result as triumph. So where does this one fall? Pretty much exactly in the middle of the two extremes. There’s some top notch, super melodic metal here and some rather generic, boring duds. What makes this album of particular annoyance to Steel Druhm is how good the good stuff is. With some real winners on display, its a total buzz kill to have roughly half the album fizzle out and fail to keep the momentum going Fullforce (yeah, you knew it was gonna happen at some point). OK, it’s time for your slightly bitter host to examine One in a non-bitter fashion.

Having been familiar with Michael Andersson’s work with Cloudscape and enjoyed much of it, I was interested to hear what direction he would go with One. Well, its not much different than Cloudscape stylistically. As opener “Mythomaniac” washes over the listener, they’re greeted with brisk, energetic metal with a major emphasis on melody, catchiness and classy performances. As openers go, it’s a very good one and it straddles the line between the AOR hard rock sound of the Allen/Lande albums and the crunch and prog of Symphony X. Andersson’s vocals are well done and compelling and his band backs him up admirably. However, its the followup “None of  Your Concern” that really grabbed me and smacked me silly. This is humdinger of a ditty and super addicting. Again in the vein of the Allen/Lande albums, it takes an infectious hard rock style and gives it just enough metallizing to kick copious ass. Great guitar work, excellent vocal phrasing and a big hooky chorus that will keep you coming back for lots more. With “Heart and Soul” they pump up the heaviness and intensity and its another instantly accessible gem with a winning chorus. Clearly these guys can bring the tools to the tradeshow and by this point I had visions of 4.0′s and 4.5′s dancing in my iron head.  The next two tracks are also rock solid and keep the winning streak alive and then, it comes to an abrupt halt.

The album’s second half feels like it was written by a completely different group and the intensity, catchiness and overall quality take a significant step backwards. Songs like “Rain” and “Suffering in Silence” have moments of quality but feel flat, sterile and bland. Worse yet, numbers like “Wall of Secrets,” ”Father Spirit” and “Into the Cradle” never seem to get going at all. There’s a partial recovery near album’s end with “I Bleed” but by then, I’d been ravaged by the Filler Gremlin™ and I was greatly displeased by this.

In fairness, the performances themselves are great from beginning to end. Andersson is a very good vocalist and his professionalism is always apparent. While he doesn’t possess the most unique style or delivery, he makes the most of his voice with a lot of excellent vocal choices. Likewise, the guitars by Stefan Elmgren (ex-Hammerfall, ex-Lost Horizon, ex-Cans) and Carl Johan Grimmark (Rob Rock, Narnia) are impressive and they do their share to keep things lively, provide meaningful solos and sundry noodlings. These guys are all solid, experienced musicians and the first half of One shows the great things they’re capable of doing together. Sadly, their songwriting lets them down badly on the back half.

Half a great melodic metal album, One is a  paean to iTunes and such similar MP3 tools that allow the buyer to cherrypick tracks. If the first half was released as an EP it would get a big fat 4.0 or better. While the second half is a downer, I’m impressed enough with Fullforce to hope for a second album and more consistent songwriting. If you like melodic metal with a hard rock vibe, give this a sampling but avoid the second half if possible.

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Förra året slog Metaltown alla möjliga rekord när 22 000 besökare från hela Skandinavien invaderade Göteborg och vad som nu är en av Sveriges största festivaler. Efter utökat publikområde sålde biljetterna slut för andra året i rad och två fantastiska dagar på Frihamnspiren följde, med hela 32 band på tre scener.

Klara artister:

Rammstein (GER)
In Flames (S)
Bullet For My Valentine (UK)
Dark Tranquillity (S)
Kreator (GER)
Nile (US)
Sonic Syndicate (S)
Sabaton (S)
Finntroll (FIN)
Bleeding Through (US)
Cynic (US)
Dream Evil (S)
Raubtier (S)

That’s whose gonna be there so far… That might just be the highest percentage of bands I want to see on a festival ever except for Wacken, which is definitely not on the list this year, unfortunately.. Anyway, for those of you who get a chance to head to Sweden for festival season, that might be one worth checking out!

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Step over, Manowar, the new Kings of Metal are in town. Sure, they’ve been around for a while, and they’re a little more tongue in cheek than Manowar is, but Dream Evil, with the release of their new record In the Night, have risen from the ashes (of a DVD release?) to take the crown for themselves in their mighty, viking fists! These Swedes have put forth a strong offering filled with skull-crushing riffs, ball-grabbing vocals and unabashedly cheesy-as-hell lyrics—that would make Snowy Shaw blush—in order to try to re-gain the glory of their mighty album The Book of Heavy Metal.

It is certainly true that the departure of Snowy and Gus G. made a lot of people nervous about Dream Evil‘s demise, but they have come back with their second full-length release since then and don’t appear to be going anywhere. And, as vocalist Nick Night points out in wailing ridiculousness, Dream Evil is “immortal, [they] cannot die, you better run and hide.” And In the Night is everything that you would expect from this Swedish unit: catchy power metal with fantastic hooks, cheesy lyrics and a self-critical eye cast back at the 1980s—when men were men and tights were … totally tough. Every track on this record is fantastic, but, of course, I have my favorites. My personal favorite is probably “The Ballad,” which takes every single cliché and turns them into a moving song about crying children and swine. Other tracks that stand out are the mighty “Bang Your Head,” “Immortal,” and the delightful “Kill, Burn, Be Evil”—advice we can all really take to heart in order to improve our metal cred.

What I think is fascinating is that there are always bands that are trying to do this kind of stuff all the time and do it to varying degrees of success. Retro 80s metal is definitely building and getting stronger throughout the world and certain labels even still seriously sign bands that want to sound like 80s thrash or stadium rock—and yet here we have the most talented group of these guys and basically the whole thing is tongue-in-cheek. Dream Evil is convincing as hell, but you can tell that they’re definitely having a drunken laugh at the same time as they’re producing balls-to-the-wall metal that makes you want to break out your leopard tights. The band is really tight, the production is super and these boys can write good, pop smart heavy metal.

If you’re a fan of the genre and looking for something to get drunk to with your friends and scream at the top of your lungs: look no further than In the Night. And all hail the new Kings of  Metal!

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