Confessions of the Maker

I am not at all seasoned in the field of Sweden’s Crystal Eyes. The only instance of exposure to the band that I have under my belt is a solitary track from their 2003 release Vengeance Descending called “The Wizard’s Apprentice”. The sole reason said song was of interest to me was the fact that Lost Horizon frontman Daniel Heiman had been featured as a guest vocalist. The track was quite decent, but I guess not intriguing enough to garner any further attention to the band’s other works. So here we are a couple of years later, and I’ve come to find that Heiman has since left his previous outfit and is now the session vocalist on Crystal Eyes’ latest album, Confessions Of The Maker. I was both bummed and enthusiastic about the news. It was unfortunate that he was no longer in Lost Horizon (one of my personal favorites), yet knowing the extent of his talents, I was anxious to hear what he could achieve with this new undertaking.

Much to my dismay, Confessions Of The Maker is not at all what I had expected, as Heiman’s performance on the disc is not a just representation of his capabilities. Being that Crystal Eyes is not nearly as epic as Lost Horizon, I can imagine he would have had to downplay his skill a bit to coincide with the band’s own ability, but I can’t help but feel like he took it too far. The album suffers because of this and falls short of living up to its full potential.

It’s my understanding that chief songwriter and guitarist Mikael Dahl was previously the lead singer on the earlier Crystal Eyes recordings, and doesn’t possess the range that Heiman does. It was also rumored that Dahl composed the bulk of the vocal melodies. If this is in fact accurate, it makes total sense, as few of the songs actually sound as if Heiman played a part in any area of their creation. Acting as a session musician limits your freedom of input, and here it shows. If he had played a more significant role in the conception of Confessions Of The Maker, it would have been more of a success in my book. Well, that’s not the case and we can only hope that Mikael Dahl will learn from this experience and in the future allow more participation by all members, especially when speaking of someone as godly as Daniel Heiman.

Despite my disappointment in the vocal department, Confessions Of The Maker is a very inviting effort. A conceptual album, each song is well written and teeming with memorable music. Nothing completely out of this world in the musicianship, but impressive none the less. Being that the band performs a pretty general style, I honestly don’t believe that a lengthy narrative is essential when describing them. This time around I am just gonna cut to the chase. Simply put, the latest Crystal Eyes release is bound to be satisfying to most power metal fans, above all, those whom glorify the likes of Angel Dust, Falconer, Nocturnal Rites, and Edguy… and that’s all she wrote!