Eternal Dream: Daementia

Spain and power metal hardly go hand in hand, but that land’s Eternal Dream must be commended for staying true to their Euro power metal ideals and finally managing to bag themselves a record deal along the way. Pride & Joy are the label they’ve teamed up with to release their second full length album, Daementia, and a reserved effort it is not. Ana Moronta leads from the front, the diminutive singer an ear snagging element of the band’s sound, even if she doesn’t quite have the presence or force of her more established contemporaries. She is, however, more than ably backed by the synth layers from Adrián Romero and virtuosic guitar work of Jose Gil Cerván.

From the off, you know that Daementia is going to be a full on affair, and that Eternal Dream are not going to be a band to do things by halves. That’s a stance that is to be commended and yet right from the opening instrumental title track, the desire for this band to illustrate their undoubted talents can undermine the very skills they are looking to portray. Running to just over three minutes, this ‘intro’ is no more than excuse for frets to be burned - including those of bassist Antonio Motta, who also gets a solo spot - keys to be crashed and drums to be hammered. “Anxiety� continues down the same path, where a frantic beat is played off against a stop-start buzz-saw guitar riff and high end vocals.

In truth, already you can pretty much make your mind up as to how things will go from here. If you’re still picking your pants from the floor after having them blown clean off, then with much of the rest of this album following a similar path - just at different tempos - continued satisfaction is pretty much guaranteed. If however, like me, you can’t quite shake off the air of supercilious, heard it all beforeness, then you’ll need more convincing. “Denial� does look to offer something a little less 'by numbers’, the slow, relaxed acoustic guitar and piano allowing Moronta to utilise an easier vocal delivery, and sound rather wonderful doing so. But it is a brief interlude, “Wrath� immediately picking up the bang-a-bang-a-bang-a-bang style once more.

There’s no arguing about whether Eternal Dream are a talented bunch, because put quit simply, they couldn’t create this hammer and tongs power metal if they weren’t. However, a few little exceptions aside, where this album falls down is through its sheer, unvaried attack. At times some of the instrumentation can also feel as though it’s on the outside of the song looking in, leaving Moronta not quite as commanding as you feel she has the ability to be. However, with a solid label now behind them, hopefully this is just the start of a long and fruitful journey for these promising Spanish power metallers.

Track Listing
1. Dæmentia
2. Anxiety
3. Euphoria
4. Delusion
5. Denial
6. Wrath
7. Obsession
8. Amnesia
9. Insanity
10. Numbness
11. Reverie
12. Awakening

Added: January 26th 2019
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Eternal Dream @ bandcamp
Hits: 852
Language: english

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