Metal Reviews

You're welcome to comment on:


Click here to see the review.

Oh man, you're going to get it now. Elisa Martin is a favorite of the power metal fanbase. Recommending that Dreammaker change their vocalist is sacrilege akin to asking Edguy to fire Tobias Sammet.

That being said, I'm not trashing your review. I haven't heard the album, so obviously Elisa Martin may be horrible on this album. But really, she is one of the better singers in power metal.

Elisa MArtin is one of the only chick singers I can stomach.

Not much happening this week. :(

Good review Cody and i'm glad to see you gave this album a fair score.IMO Human Desire was way better but still falls to the standard power metal category.
I didn't take notice about the spec. effects in the vocals so i was suprised when i read it in the review...you were right of course.I never liked Elisa's singing in Fairyland.
The good sides of this album are the more agressive approach in the music and the male vocals, which i find good addition.
So my score would be 72.

" Formed after the death of Dark Moor "

Dude, Dark Moor is still alive! (thanks God) :roll:

I really like this style of female vocals. More Pat Benatar rock style instead of the annoying opera female vox which would be good in spots but not an entire album. I agree the effects are overdone but this chick is a great singer.

On to the album I really liked it because it was damn heavy and aggressive power metal the kind I like! The song writting does fall off but the first 4 songs kill! Not a masterpeice but I would score it right around 80.

And for the last time how long will it take for everybody to realize how overated of an album Hellfire Club is? The hooks are big yes but sooo obvious and formulatic. A score of around 76 would be a fair score for Hellfire Club. A good album but pretty cookie cutter if you ask me.......

Peace

Wow, it appears you are correct. I could have sworn Dark Moor broke up. Did they break up, and then get back together with new members?

Cody, Great review,im not fond of elisa vocals either,i think the spanish power metal scene is a bit lacking in originality,too bad because they sure have great musicians,like sandalinas for example.

There is another band similar in a way to Dreamaker.It's called Ebony Ark and so far they have only 1 album but it's better than both Dreamaker albums.It's spanish with good female vocals (IMO better than Elisa).
I should try hearing Sandalinas instead.True though that there aren't as much good bands from Spain these days.

I used to be a pretty big fan of Dark Moor and Martin, but sje absolutely didn't bother making any improvements in her English--neither pronounciation nor spelling, so I mostly lost interest. But it sure sounds great if you never bother checking what she is actually singing.

Yeah, I think a little editing is required in this review!! =)


No, but the only founding member left is Enrik Garcia. They've put out two albums—Dark Moor and Beyond The Sea—with a male singer since Elisa left the band.

Anyway, here's a contrasting review, I did this one a few months ago:

DREAMAKER – ENCLOSED

After leaving Dark Moor Elisa C. Martin lent her voice to the band Fairyland, a symphonic, keyboard-laden power metal band that wasn’t a far cry from Dark Moor, though more reminiscent of Italian power metallers Rhapsody. With two other members of Dark Moor—Albert Maroto and Jorge Sáez—she went on to Dreamaker, a band that is clearly metal in scope, but not part of that typical European power metal scene. Instead, Dreamaker are more of a traditional metal band focusing less on the symphonic sound and theatrics, and more on simply being a metal band. This suits Elisa’s vocals much better than her previous bands as she’s not really an operatic singer, but more of a straightforward metal singer. Think Kimberly Goss of Sinergy.

This album—their second—starts off with Elisa almost screaming the beginning of the verses with some heavy distorted vocal effects before she switches to a more clean vocal tone (though still heavy). The song is heavy with a nice pounding rhythm and catchy chorus. This pretty much sums up the whole album. Heavy, rhythmic and catchy as hell! Most of the heavier songs seem to crowd the beginning of the album while the middle of the album finds the band digging into a solid, diverse groove with songs ranging from the mid-paced, almost power ballad-like “The End of Your Suicide” to the more extreme metal of “Innocent Blood” and “Perfect Soul,” both featuring some heavy male vocals, very much in the melodic death metal vein. There are a few other tunes that feature a male vocalist, like “Face To Face,” but these are sung in a clean style.

When this album comes to an end there shouldn’t be any disappointment to be found. This album is drenched in traditional metal wizardry from the double bass, staccato guitar rhythms, excellent lead work, and, of course, Elisa’s amazing vocal performance; sometimes sweet, sometimes vitriolic, always outstanding. There is some keyboard work and some electronic effects, but this takes an uncommon backseat leaving the main instruments to accentuate the songs. And speaking of the songs—the most important part of any album—they are excellent! Very diverse, heavy and melodic, epic but not grandiose and overachieving, simply put: this is a killer metal album.

1. I Live My Own Life
2. Reverse Universe
3. Over The Edge
4. Living In Fear
5. The End Of Your Suicide
6. Innocent Blood
7. W.W.666
8. Face To Face
9. Enclosed
10. Perfect Soul
11. Take Me Higher
12. Promised Heaven

Website: http://www.dreamaker.net

After "Between Light & Darkness" Elisa C. Martín, Albert Maroto and Jorge Saez left the band and formed Dreamaker. Actually Enrik Garcia is the only original member of Dark Moor that still keeps in the band.
In their website there is more information about this:
http://www.dark-moor.com/bioing.htm
And here is their first video (with the new line up):
http://www.dark-moor.com/downloadesp.htm

Actually, Elisa did Fairyland first in 2003.

Elisa collaborated with Fairyland in 2003, true, but she was not member of the group. By the way, very good CD

I give this CD a 45. A below average CD for me (50 being my average).

I like the riff's in track 2, but for the most part the album is forgettable. The melodies are almost non-existent, which is why I'm not even sure if this should be classified as power metal.

Lots of parts remind me of an nu-metal sound, and just an attempt to sound modern/mainstream. Not saying that's bad, but its not for me.

I've listened to this album many times and it just never clicked or got better. I liked their first better, but even that was only worthy of probably a 65-70 score.

It's quite weird though, Dark Moor split so they could pursue different directions - yet both Dark Moor and Dreamaker have released heavier albums since then.

Would figure one would be heavy (Dreamaker) while the other (Dark Moor) would continue being neoclassical like.

As far as I know she was a member, 100%, but decided to leave the band. Either way, it doesn't much matter.

You're sure you actually listened to this band??? Nu-metal? Non-existent melodies? Come on, that's just ridiculous.

I also find the album to be severely lacking. There are some pretty good Spanish power metal bands, but the problem with most of them has already been said, the lack of creativity. It'd be nice if one of you guys reviewed some albums by Saratoga, or some of Mago de Oz's older material.

Heh. I checked out Saratoga and they are pretty frikin awsome. I'll check out Mago de Oa later.