Crystal Eyes - Dead City Dreaming

Published Nov. 08 2006

*=Staff's pick	Dead City Dreaming Into The Light The Narrow Mind Wall Of Stars* Battlefield* The Quest Remains Dawn Dancer* Roads Of Loneliness Temple Of Immortal Shame* The Halls Of Valhalla*

Genre	Heavy/Power Metal	Nico Adamsen	Vocals
Tracks	10	Mikael Dahl	Guitar
Runningtime	45 Min.	Niclas Karlsson	Guitar
Label	Heavy Fidelity	Claes Wikander	Bass
Release	03 Nov. 2006	Stefan Svantesson	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

Swedish band Crystal Eyes has since their last release gone through changes in the line-up, a new vocalist has in form of danish Nico Adamsen been added as well as that we see the return of original guitarist Niclas Karlsson.

Crystal Eyes in 2006 sounds to have very much in common with Hammerfall, the roots in power and the love for mid-tempo while flirting heavily with the classic metal of the eighties. The first song and also the title track, Dead City Dreaming, stomps forward in mid-tempo and is a perfect example of this with the obvious Hammerfall vibes it features. I was a bit worried when I heard that Daniel Heiman (ex-Lost Horizon, Heed) was not to be in Crystal Eyes as he was apparently only recruited for doing the previous album Confessions Of The Maker. He is one incredible vocalist and to assume his role cannot be an easy task. And my worries got bigger as I started listening to the album, but during the track Wall Of Stars I started to calm down when Nico Adamsen shows the range and diversity he possesses in his voice. And in Battlefield the album finally gets some needed speed and the danish dynamite finally gives proof of his explosive capacities.

Dead City Dreaming is an album that gets stronger the longer into the album you get, it a more heavy album than what you are used to from these guys but the melodies are very much still intact. Michael Dahl shows once again his good capacities as a songwriter and occasionally this is brilliant, especially with the splendid guitar works that comes out like a blend of Running Wild and Iron Maiden. A couple of catchy songs are to be found as well, and The Quest Remains is almost overly catchy and becomes dangerously close to be cheesy, but just as in likeness with Edguy, which this song has vibes of, they pull it off. This album is in general slow and the speedy track Dawn Dancer which follows the standards and doesn’t really outshine any other songs in the genre gives a needed push to Dead City Dreaming and feels refreshing.

The ending song The Halls Of Valhalla is an epic song that shows a side that I do not recall at the moment that I have seen of Crystal Eyes before. Musically this is a metal-hymn in mid-tempo and the pace and rhythmic reminds me of the band Tyr that has a strong passion for this kind of heathen metal. On the other hand, the instrumental leads could have been picked out of Iron Maiden’s latest release A Matter Of Life And Death. To cut it short, The Halls Of Valhalla is a great epic song perfect as a closing album song. Production-wise, this album is probably the best Crystal Eyes have done although I am not that acquainted with the first two releases, but what can you expect when Fredrik Nordström of Fredman Studios has been involved to some extent?

See also review of: Chained , Confessions Of The Maker

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7	6	5

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Thomas