THIS WEEK I’M LISTENING TO...DREAM EVIL – Metal Gods (Century Media)

Twenty-two years after they unleashed their debut album ‘Dragonslayer’ Dream Evil are back with their seventh album ‘Metal Gods’; and once again, as you might expect from the Swedish five-piece, it’s as heavy as a steel foundry. In the biog the band account for their low productivity rate in recent years by claiming to be just plain lazy (‘Metal Gods’ is only their third studio album since 2006’s ‘United’) and that the band is “just a hobby”. But there’s little doubt that when they rhythm guitarist Fredrik Nordström, frontman Niklas Isfeldt, bassist Peter Stålfors, lead guitarist Markus Fristedt and drummer Sören Fardvik do set their minds to recording a new album things kick off in quite spectacular fashion.

Dream Evil are metal through and through. They don’t deny it, they don’t try to hide it, they don’t dress things up with fancy names or quote infinitely ridiculous sub-genres. They just go for it. Writing in Classic Rock, Chris Lord baulked at the lyrics to the title track which namechecks the effects of hearing ‘Unleashed In The East’ and ‘The Number Of The Beast’ for the first time as well as lobbimng in nods to Saxon and Manowar amongst others. But the song – and in fact the whole album – is a love letter to metal. Cut this band in half and you’ll find the words heavy metal running through them just like the lettering in a stick of seaside rock. As such, ‘Metal Gods’ is a ten-track, forty-five minute metallic romp – not subtle, certainly, but chock full of all of the tricks of the trade which makes metal so unbelievably exciting to those of us who care.

There’s not a duff song on offer here, although the middle order of ‘Lightning Strikes’, ‘Fight In The Night’ and ‘Masters Of Arms’ are particularly strong, and throughout the album Fristedt’s soloing is a joy to behold. Throw back your head, raise the horns and party like it’s 1984.

Video clips:
‘Metal Gods’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQhp1mmraKQ
‘Fight In The Night’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T77siScQpYU
‘Chosen Force’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZimV-khh__Q

John Tucker July 2024