Memories of a dream is the debut album from Arwen, a band from Spain with eight members! Yes, 8! Two keyboard players, two vocalists (One male and one female), two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer. That makes for a pretty big band with some interesting potential. On this album they deliver some consistent and well played melodic power metal with a few progressive elements.
The two vocalists could have been used to create some very interesting things, but unfortunately they are only utilized both at the same time, in a couple of songs. Nacho Ruiz sings lead in most of the songs and Mamen Castano does some backing vocals, only on a couple of tracks is she able to really show herself. Nacho Ruiz mostly reminds me of a mix between Ben Sotto (Heavenly) and Andre Matos (Shaman /
Angra). Sometimes he tries too hard to hit the very high notes and it sounds like he is really straining his voice. His voice works best when he's singing in a lower key, where it is warmer and has quite a nice feeling to it. The two vocalists are best used on songs like
Eternally and
So high where they share the vocals and that gives the songs a great feeling.
Musically the band is excellent and during the course of the album they show great skill with their instruments and offer some cool musical ideas. I was a bit worried that the use of two keyboard players would make everything sound too overblown, but fortunately that is not the case. The keyboards are used a lot, but in a way that gives the music a good atmosphere. All instruments are played very well and I will be looking forward to seeing how this band develop. Hopefully they will utilize their two vocalists better on the next one. There is definite potential here.
Some highlights include
Once upon a time with it's excellent melody and atmospheric guitar playing, the great chorus of
Time's Gate and my favourite track
New life which has a heavy riff with a great drive and a really cool chorus. An honorable mention also goes to the slow and beautiful
Eternally.
Overall this is a very good effort, but needs a little more variety to really stand out. Definitely recommended if you are into bands like Heavenly,
Dark Moor or
Angra or like technical melodic power metal with some progressive elements in general. A promising debut that gets better with each listen.
Written by
Steen Friday, January 10, 2003
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