AXENSTAR — Where Dreams Are Forgotten (review)

AXENSTAR — Where Dreams Are Forgotten album cover Album · 2014 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
adg211288
Where Dreams Are Forgotten (2014) is the sixth full-length album by Swedish power metal act Axenstar. The band has moved to Inner Wound Recordings for this release and it's the second album to feature the line-up that debuted on their last album Aftermath (2011); Magnus Winterwild on vocals, bass and keyboards, Joakim Jonsson and Jens Klovegård on guitars and Adam Lindberg on drums.

On Where Dreams Are Forgotten Axenstar play a brand of power metal where I can't shake the impression that I've heard it all before. Lots of speed and melody and some semi-symphonic keyboard use. I guess that's what happens when you listen to a lot of albums from a particular genre. You start to get selective. I can't say that Axenstar do anything wrong here as far as a power metal album goes but eleven tracks and approx fifty minutes later I simply haven't heard anything that manages to make the album stand out. The songs themselves are decent enough I guess but the album as a whole doesn't really offer up any surprises and I don't find that the album has as much energy to it as it possible could do, which is often the determining factor for me with a power metal album. The first couple of songs Fear and Inside the Maze are really quite good however, as is Greed later in the album, so it's not as if Where Dreams Are Forgotten is totally without highlights.

I haven't heard any of the previous Axenstar work to say how Where Dreams Are Forgotten compares to them, but as a first impression for the group it definitely comes up short, making the band seem very B grade to me. It is good album, but only one that will have appeal to power metal diehards. I count myself as such a person, but I do have to be objective here. The lasting impressions of the album are not great and don't encourage repeat spins. But it is competent if unremarkable work with good vocals and musicianship. 3.5 stars seems fair in this case.

72/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/axenstar-where-dreams-are-forgotten-t3815.html)
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