Melodius - Dream On
Avatarn Records
Melodic, Progressive Power Metal
11 songs (70:27)
Release year: 2008
Reviewed by Kyle

I hate to admit it as it sounds rather unprofessional, but my first impression of an album depends on the cover artwork. I can’t help but imagine how vicious an album will be when staring at a cover featuring Satan surrounded by piles of dead, mutilated corpses all with inverted pentagrams branded onto their thighs, or how epic it will be when gazing at a piece of artwork featuring opposing armies of angels and demons rushing head-on at each other, moments away from clashing and beginning the battle that will determine the fate of the world. And when I set my eyes open Taiwanese Power Metal band Melodius’ debut album Dream On, featuring a bright watercolor painting of a wizard overlooking a cliff with two children while a large pirate ship floats on a lake in the distance, I can’t help but think of the most grand melodies and majestic music in all of Power Metal. Sadly, this is not the case; Some of the songs on Dream On really shine as excellent melodic PM tracks, but most of them attempt to be overly progressive, which is clearly not the band’s strong point.

Dream On starts off quite well with a symphonic instrumental before breaking into Novelist, an absolutely fantastic Power Metal tune that features one of the most uplifting lead melodies I’ve ever heard, which is featured in the intro and chorus, the double bass blazing along at a steady clip throughout the entire six and a half minutes (After the symphonic beginning, of course). However, this song clearly shows that production is not by any means spectacular; Lead guitar and the high-range vocals need to be turned WAY down, and drumming, rhythm guitar, and mid-range vocals need to be cranked WAY up. The orchestrated synths on this song, though they lend the track multiple layers a much more epic sound, are so loud that they all but drown out the rhythm guitar, which sounds rather weak and fuzzy in the first place (The keys aren't really a problem on any other song though). On top of that, during the chorus, the backing vocals are far too loud and the lead vocals are barely audible, which is utterly ridiculous. But really, the songwriting itself is so great and the central melody so powerful that it still is wonderful to listen to. But after this, things begin to go downhill.

After Novelist, most of the tracks on Dream On begin to lean on progressive style riffs rather than the amazing, supremely catchy melodies that were focused on so heavily before. Are they all that bad? No, not really… In fact, they’re fairly good and well executed. But I really wish that Melodius would concentrate less on technicality and more on the straightforward, Melodic/Symphonic Power Metal that they show they are so very able of doing. They still show their strong points on the excellent songs After The Rain and Dream On, both of which featuring very nice choruses, the former including a great pre-chorus and the latter having a wonderful instrumental section with awesome soloing. Oddly enough, though, the best song on Dream On other than Novelist is an instrumental interlude called Return Of The Darkness, which is without a doubt one of the best instrumental Power Metal tracks I’ve ever heard. It begins with some light, orchestrated melodies before building into a huge, bombastic piece of beauty that almost sounds like music from the older Final Fantasy games morphed with the theme from The Terminator. It’s something that must be heard to be believed.

Dream On would be much more tolerable if the production was crystal clear, as it really needs to be with this style of music, but the overly loud high end really puts a damper on the experience as a whole. Still, I’m really hoping that Melodius continues to make music, as I’d be very eager to hear a follow-up to their debut to find out if they focused more on making great melodies and improved the production. Dream On has a certain quality – A “Charm”, if you will – that is hard to find in Power Metal, and if the band can tap into that energy and use it to their advantage, then Melodius is destined for greatness.

Killing Songs :
Novelist, Return Of The Darkness, After The Rain, Dream On
Kyle quoted 69 / 100
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