Phoenix

Dreamtale is one of those bands that I just can’t seem to stop liking, no matter how light and mainstream they get. Their unique blend of mid 90s Stratovarius brand keyboards meets guitars speed metal, Nightwish like atmosphere and take on the male/female duet (though in this case the male voice is dominant), and their extremely formulaic songwriting and simplicity make them an unlikely choice, but I just can’t get enough. Part of the charm originally was in the vocal character of 2nd album lead vocalist Tomi Viiltola, who bore some resemblance to Geoff Tate in his presentation and provided a deeper voiced foil to the stereotypical tenor/falsetto range of the genre, while still taking many occasions to jump into that range as well. Even after losing this dominant force in their arrangement and going through more lineup changes than any band should ever go through, they’ve maintained a consistent formula and still sound like the same band, though they’ve yet to recapture the magic that was achieved on the ambitious concept album that was “Ocean’s Heart”.

The band’s 4th offering “Phoenix” seems a bit like the band poking fun at themselves given that it could have applied to the last album. But it fits given that after Tomi’s replacement Jarkko Ahola (who sounded ridiculously similar to Marko Hietala, thus further driving the band into the Nightwish camp of Finnish power metal) parted with the band and made way for Erkki Seppänen, who sounds fairly similar to Viiltola. His contributions to this project do tilt the sound back towards their older sound, although the songwriting has not moved with the vocals and tends more towards the AOR character of “Difference”. What results is a release that will occasionally sound like it should be lyrically geared towards Sci-Fi/Fantasy themes, but instead focuses on the politics, personal relationships, and a good amount of other subjects that are more in line with Timo Tolkki’s attempts at channeling John Lennon.

This band has always had a really dominant keyboard element to their sound, but here it occasionally supplants the guitars and almost sounds closer to a techno/industrial album than power metal. Particularly on “Payback”, “Failed States” and the second bonus track on the Japanese version “Between Love And Hate”, things tread dangerously closer to rave territory, save a slight saving grace of the guitar presence, which is just heavy enough to cut through the overpowering vocal tracking and keyboard ambiences. And even on heavier ended songs such as “Great Shadow”, which is the closest thing to an epic song on here, the chorus section is so steeped in layered high end vocals by both Erkki and the female backup singer that it trends towards the lightest and earliest variants of 80s metal. None of these songs are outright bad, but are pretty distant from the glory days of power and speed just 5 years prior.

When things look back to the earlier days of this band, they get a good bit better and actually become appropriate to the genre that the band shares with many other Finnish acts. The riff work generally goes for simplicity and allows the melody to do the talking, and in the case of “Eyes Of The Clown”, “Firebird” and the other bonus track “Lady Dragon”, they speak quite loudly. It’s the same brand of catchy, light and hook driven speed metal heard out of Celesty, Dragonland, and Skylark, but it always works for them quite well. Their keyboard heavy nods to proto-metal guitarist Gary Moore meets Sonata Arctica in “Yesterday’s News” and “Take What The Heavens Create” are also quite entertaining, in spite of being as formulaic and predictable as possible. Apart from the occasional lead break, which generally tend to be far shorter and humbler than what Stratovarius would give you, it pretty much sticks to the standard meat and potatoes of songwriting, namely a few good signature riffs, a solid rhythm backdrop, and a powerful vocal performance.

While this album’s title is a pretty accurate representation of its nature, this is the weakest offering that the band has put out. Fans of “Ocean’s Heart” or any of several other classic Finnish power metal albums put out between 1997 and 2003 will like most of it, but this is something that should be shopped for at 30% off the average retail price. There is potential for these guys to really ramp things up on the next album given the vocalist they now possess, but a greater concentration on speed metal and less on keyboard effects will need to come with it. Thankfully Dreamtale has not gone the way of Children Of Bodom, but for a really excellent representation of the Finnish sound circa 2008, try Ultimatium’s “Hwainoo”.

It is almost seems to be an inevitability with the wave of Finnish metal bands from the late 90s onwards that after a few CDs their style will change to something weaker compared to that of their early work. Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Twilightning and Norther have all in recent years abandoned their original power metal sound to some degree or another, and it leaves a sense of foreboding whenever another band from their scene has a new CD in the offing.

Thankfully, Dreamtale have not made a drastic stylistic change with their 4th CD, and while there are some worrying hints that something unsavoury may be around the corner on their next release, 'Phoenix' is an above average power metal collection that belies the mass changes to the band's line-up over the last couple of years.

Of course, in what has become Dreamtale tradition, vocalist Jarkko Ahola (best known for his work in the Eurovision-bothering Teräsbetoni) is gone after only one CD, but it really has been all-change time following 2005's 'Difference', and the band's entire line-up other than founding guitarist Rami Keränen and bass player Pasi Ristolainen have been replaced. 'Difference' saw some attempts from Dreamtale to get away from exclusively playing in the Sonata Arctica (and by extension, Stratovarius) style, with increased symphonic elements and minor folkish influences being added to the mix. Strangely though, both of these aspects have been largely excised from the music on 'Phoenix', with another batch of new influences coming to the fore, and these unfortunately are often the cause of the CD's biggest problems.

Most of the songs are built in the style of later Nocturnal Rites (before they went off the deep end on 'The 8th sin'), a cross between power metal and anthemic, midtempo hard rock. The smoother tones of new singer Erkki Seppänen contribute significantly to this vibe, and while his voice is more versatile than that of Ahola he lacks some of his predecessor's character.

Following the arrival of Akseli Kaasalainen for his debut with Dreamtale, the style of keyboard playing has been largely revamped on the less familiar-sounding songs, and overall has a much larger role in the final product than before. Stacked to the front of the mix on plenty of songs, the keyboards are largely a welcome but occasionally overbearing presence, and are also partially responsible for a couple of baffling missteps. The opening section to "Payback" is an example the most eye-rolling of 'spooky keyboard' effects, and while it doesn't really harm the song, it only hints at what is to come on the following track. This song is "Failed states", a completely disastrous mix of 'Century child'-era Nightwish and preposterous Euro-dance. Quite what Dreamtale were thinking of with this abortion is beyond me, and it can only be hoped it is not a portent of what is to come from them in the future.

A couple of throwaway songs, "Take what the heavens create" and the ballad "No angels no more" also bring 'Phoenix' down a bit, but credit is due for the more successful attempts at branching into new territory that are to be heard. "Great shadow" is the longest and most varied song on the CD, opening with on a pummelling riff and constantly referring back to an inspired chorus accented strongly by some choir vocals.

The real winners on the CD though – strangely loaded towards the end – are the traditional, light-speed power metal songs. "Firebird" is absolutely stunning, a melting pot of all the best elements of Sonata Arctica, Freedom Call and early Nocturnal Rites, featuring an unforgettable chorus and an outstanding guitar-and-keyboard solo section. For this reason it is advisable to get the Japanese version of the CD with 2 additional songs at the end, of which the brilliant "Lady dragon" is worth the extra money on its own.

On some levels, 'Phoenix' is maybe comparable to Children of Bodom's 'Hate crew deathroll' – while weaker overall than older material and absorbing some unwanted new additions to the formula, it ought to be close enough to the band's recognised style for fans to appreciate it. Of course in retrospect, 'Hate crew deathroll' was also the warning shot before Bodom really went for in terms of a style change. One can only hope that 'Phoenix' will not be one day looked back on in the same terms.

(Originally written for http://www.metalcdratings.com/)