Dreamland - Future's Calling

*=Staff's pick	The Chance (intro) Hearts Like Lions A New Way* Breaking The Chains Destiny* Die Slowly Fade Away All For One Dreamland* Future's Calling Blank Mind A New Dimension* Repeating Supremacy (outro)

Genre	Heavy/Power Metal	Joacim Lundberg	Vocals
Tracks	13	Johan Eriksson	Guitar
Runningtime	50 Min.	Erik Rauti	Guitar
Label	Dockyard	Mats Rendlert	Bass
Release	18 Nov. 2005	Marcus Sköld	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Hammerfall, Supreme Majesty, Dream Evil

Newcomers Dreamland from Gothenburg in Sweden have gotten some help from Hammerfall vocalist Joacim Cans with their debut album. And if it is because his involvement they sound as they do I don't know but there is no question that Hammerfall is a major source of inspiration for Dreamland. Cans is helping out with backing vocals and along with Andy LaRoque he has also been involved with the production.

It is obvious with their sound that Dreamland are Swedes. This is not meant in a negative way but they have that distinguished sound to them that many Swedish bands have, just like Hammerfall, Supreme Majesty and Storyteller for instance. It is melodic heavy metal with a touch of the eighties and of power metal and the first track Hearts Like Lions gives them away as followers in the Hammerfall school. It is almost scary how close they sound with song structures, refrains, harmonies, leads and for obvious reasons the backing vocals - it is all Hammerfall. The song A New Way with its fast opening riffing is just another proof of the Hammerfall comparisons and it is almost so much that it could turn to be simply ridiculous, but it doesn't. Don't ask me how but these guys pull it off, but probably it is because they are talented enough to make a stand of their own and not becoming copycats. They are also on the verge of becoming banal and cliché but Dreamland is gallantly avoiding falling into those pits.

The vocalist Joacim Ca…, sorry, Joacim Lundberg further enhances the likenesses with Hammerfall since he has a striking similarity in his voice with Cans, although Lundberg is just not as powerful and a little paler in his yet strong and clear voice. This band offer no surprises but do give you a solid album as Future's Calling is a very competent release. There is nothing fancy about this but nevertheless it feels refreshing to hear Dreamland, so to hell with the closeness to Hammerfall since Dreamland has enough of quality and musicianship of their own. Mostly the songs go in mid-tempo and apart from the ballad Fade Away they hold an even and pretty good quality with the songs straight through. Although it is with the faster songs like A New Way and A New Dimension I get the most out of Dreamland.