[.ca] Dust to Dust

Power metal done right:
Original? Not really. Perfectly written, executed, and produced? Yes. This band sounds like Helloween, Angra, and Gamma Ray, sometimes blatantly so. The singer mimics Hansen (GR) and Matos (Angra) from time to time and hits Matos' highs even! Throw in some Symphony X and Helstar for the neoclassical shredding and a vampire story line and you've got a band that wears some impressive influences on it's sleeve. For once though, I really don't care. This is heavy, speedy, and unbelievably talented stuff! The neoclassical shredding is stunning with solos that match anyone. The rhythm section us super solid with actual audible and interesting bass work. Honestly, Lost Horizon is the only band in recent years that has brought this kind of intensity and passion to power metal and that's some good company! Anyone who normally stays away from more standard power metal but is a fan of the mentioned bands can pick this up blind as their one clone band for the year. I think you'll be surprised.

Lovely! Actually, Heavenly!!!:
I am a very, very, very spoiled power metal fan, bre! I will listen to every word, every aspect, every melody, every effect, every note of every song, I will pay special attention to the recording and production quality, and I will find exactly what I don't like and I will tell you why I don't like it. With so few good new power metal releases this year, I thought that I would be stuck listening to Lost Horizon and only Lost Horizon (whose both albums are absolutely incredible, by the way) every day until my birthday when Therion will release its 2 new albums - they could not have chosen a better date to release them. Then by sheer chance I heard that Heavenly - whose first album I heard, remained unimpressed (it was like an over-sweetened cheesecake version of Helloween/Gamma Ray and I don't like cheesecake) and more or less forgot about them - released their THIRD album. Well, if a band lives long enough to release 3 albums, that in itself is a success. So I got the album... BUY THIS ALBUM NOW!!! I have to be honest with myself first. This album is not an absolute masterpiece such as Lost Horizon's "A Flame To The Ground Beneath", so, just by itself, it doesn't deserve 5 stars (though no less than 4-and-a-half would do it justice), but I gave it 5 because it is 1> so much better than their 1st album, and so now I have to get their second album to see what I missed, and 2> because it is such a nice and refreshing suprise in a sea of mediocrity, hatred and evilness. There are 3 or 4 songs on this album that can be skipped without much feeling of guilt. After all, it is a 70+ minute album - and with the likes of Nocturnal Rites (they are not bad but their newest album "New World Messiah" is) releasing their 40 minute works almost every year, even the length of the album has to be appreciated. One also has to take into account that on a 70+ minute album not all songs can be perfect. But I can easily put together at least 50 minutes worth of music from this album which I could listen to anytime, anywhere, in any mood. But one also has to remember that on this album (except maybe for the first track which is not really a song but a vampire's speech) there are no songs which are really bad - as in bad that you should skip them because they are unlistenable. Which is also a success for a 70+ minute album. Another aspect of this album that I appreciate is the fact that the band has kept the richness of their first album intact - on their first album I loved the richness of the songs - they have more vocal melodies and rhythm changes in every song than pretty much any other non-progressive band I can think of, but the cheesiness kept me away from it - so in this album they have kept the same richness but they got rid of the cheesiness. Let me point out some highlights. Songs 2-4 are great, especially song #4 - Victory (Creature of the Night). I don't understand people who blame Sonata Arctica for using pop-like vocal melodies in some of their songs. This song has a pop-like chorus and it's lovely - it touches me in the heart and it makes me shiver. Songs 8 and 9 are also great. Especially track 9 (Miracle) - it really is a 9 minute long miracle. The chorus reminds me a bit of Edguy's chorus in Theater of Salvation, except that the topic here is love and there salvation and I am not a big fan of metal songs about salvation. Songs 11-13 are also lovely, especially the ending track - it can easily be compared in emotion and athmosphere to Dragonland's "A Thousand Points Of Light" from the album "Holy War" - which is an (up to now) unparalleled song about a man doing what a man is not supposed to be able to do, ascending into the sky and bringing justice upon those who live there. The whole album still reminds me very much of some songs on Gamma Ray's album "Rebellion in Dreamland", except that these songs are richer and less predictable. Musicianship: Great guitar playing (some of the solos can make me cry), amazing drumming, very noticeable and well-executed bass performance (especially during gallop parts), great and very fun to listen to keyboards (maybe because I play keyboards too so I pay special attention to them), and of course amazing lead and backing vocals. This band can be looked at as a mixture of Gamma Ray, Helloween, and Edguy, but with much richer songs and with a lot more rhythm changes, and (especially on this album) much less predictability and cheese. Overall, this is an amazing piece of music which shows that metal is far from being dead, and that metal actually is a worthy way of life. Buy this album, you will not regret it.

Heavenly Melodic Speed Metal!:
Yes, I know that was a really, really bad pun, but I couldn't resist the urge to start the review with it you know! Now to the music. I only really got interested into Heavenly recently when my friend bought their last CD "Sign of the Winner". While the CD didn't contain the best overall sounding production and despite that singer Ben Sotto reminded me of ex-Stratovarius singer Timo Kotipelto at certain times, I thought the CD was a real solid piece of metal all-around. The release of Dust to Dust really surprised me, as I had just got into Sign of the Winner. I don't know what I was expecting musically from Dust to Dust, maybe just some basic band progression and evolution in terms of overall performance and song writing. What I eventually heard when I bought it was far beyond my expectations. While I feel Sign of the Winner is the best of the band's three releases overall, this album does takes a huge step forward. The overall production is just perfect (listen to Sign of the Winner, then listen to Dust to Dust, and you will instantly know what I mean!). Singer Ben Sotto's voice has matured to the point and isn't used in a way here that endless comparisons to other singers and bands isn't as big of an issue as it once was (I think his vocal style is among one the most interesting in metal today, he can make his voice sound really smooth sounding and then turn around two seconds later and make it sound extremely creepy!) The main difference one will find on this album from the band's two previous releases is the "whoa" effect of the backing vocals. They are so powerful and just spectacular than ever before (I guess you could say "epic" sounding as well), almost to the point where Sotto's vocals seem second to the backing vocals! Kind of a scary thought isn't it, but Ben's voice does remain on top and, in the end, the effect it creates works very well. So it you like bands like Helloween, Stratovarius, Edguy, Gamma Ray, and even Nightwish (the song Lust for Life has a keyboard opener that reminds me of Nightwish oh so much!) give this CD and their previous work "Sign of the Winner" a look. This is easily one 2004's best metal releases along with Edguy's Hellfire Club (maybe along the new Nightwish album "Once"?) Best Songs: Evil, Lust for Life, Victory (Creature of the Night), and Keepers of the Earth.

Heavenly - Dust to Dust:
French melodic power metallers, Heavenly return with their third, and clearly best, release DUST TO DUST. Although this concept album is divided into 3 chapters, musically there is not noticeable difference between them, so I assume chapter divisions are for storyline. The story is atypical for a power metal band as it tells the story of a man bitten by a vampire who is then doomed to fight against the urge to feed throughout the centuries. DUST TO DUST was mainly recorded in the band's own studio in Hyeres in southern France. The sound of the album is as expected for this style of metal, immaculate. As for the actual songs, well, when Heavenly are good...they are great and such is the case for the majority of the CD with only a few songs that I'd call "filler". Heavenly do not sound so much like Iron Savior like they often did on their debut, since Peit isn't doing his backups or producing. The band has significantly grown and has become much stronger. The vocals are also the best the band has done to date. They are more varried and not always ear shatteringly high which was something that was overdone on the previous album, SIGN OF THE WINNER. The songs that rule on this album stands as some of the very best that power metal has to offer. The downside is that the other tracks lost my attention and seemed like filler. The CD opens with an intro with some speaking about vampires, sounds like Moonspell on the spoken section. After this typical intro we get to the killing track "Evil". The thundering drums are very much at the forefront here and right away had me nodding along due to their insane intensity. The song hardly lets up and is a power/speed metal masterpiece. Fans of Rhapsody or Gamma Ray will love this one right away. The melody lines and even the vocal style are VERY reminiscent of one of power metal's best bands - Gamma Ray. There is some very nice footwork on the bass drums during the guitar solo. At close to the 5min mark there is a mellow interlude that was unnecessary before it picks back up with another solo section. This song is a great album opener and shows a heavier side of Heavenly. This is not sickly sweet but has more in common with Gamma Ray. The Gamma Ray-ish "Lust For Life" starts out sounding a little like one of Nightwish's orchestrated songs before it moves into the main verses. The huge chorus sections sound very nice and powerful with all the vocals again in the Gamma Ray vein with the large group chant. Then it's onto "Victory (Creature of the night)" which begins very sickly sweet with overly dramatic vocals and piano. When the drums/guitars come in it still has the ballad feel. At about 1:10 the song kicks in with the thundering drums and speedy riffing and redeems itself big time. "Illusion Part 1" and "Illusion Part 2 (The Call of the Wild)" in essence fit together as one song. The vocals on part 2 have some lines sung in a harsher voice that sounds a little forced. It's ok to add in something like this, but not when they sound forced. Since they are not overused it's not a problem for me anyway. This one also has noticeably cool ripping solos...not that the other tracks don't, but it stood out here for me. "The Ritual" begins with clean guitar and pseudo-choir like keys...the song while good, didn't seem to grab my attention to much. Same with "Keepers of the Earth" and the 2003 version of "Miracle". "Fight For Deliverance" picks up the pace again and has the highest note on the album. Yngwie Malmsteen fans will appreciate "Hands of Darkness" which begins like a classic styled Yngwie song. The closing 2 songs "Kingdom Come" and "...Dust to Dust" didn't grab my attention so much, but were not disappointments either. Now that Heavenly has had more experience they are able to record an album that presents a more mature sound. The band has further developed their own power metal style putting them further up the heap of the power metal scene. While some songs on here didn't grab me, the majority of them is great and definitely makes this worth checking into if you like speedy melodic power metal. If you previously wrote Heavenly off as a weak clone band, then this album should turn your opinion around. I know with each listen I like this album more and more.

Grand!!:
Though not what I expected after sigh of the winner, this album is so presisly executed it just might climb up higher than sign of the winner. If your not fammiliar with Heavenly (Shame on you!) you should buy this album first and then compare to others. Now there may be quite a few of you who dissagree with me but I heve to say that Heavenly is far beyond Gamma Ray even after only so few albums. Heavenly's first was cool but not great, sign of the winner is in my top 10 and now dust to dust is in my top 10 as well. I am still debateing if i like this one better than the previous but i know that this one is much better done and if you like speed and chaos to your music THIS ONE RULES!!! I love it!!. go out and buy it. NOW!!

• Chapter One: Ashes to Ashes...
• Chapter One: Evil
• Chapter One: Lust for Life
• Chapter One: Victory (Creature of the Night)
• Chapter Two: Illusion, Pt.1
• Chapter Two: Illusion, Pt. 2 (The Call of the Wild)
• Chapter Two: The Ritual
• Chapter Two: Keepers of the Earth
• Chapter Two: Miracle \o2003 Version\c
• Chapter Three: Fight for Deliverance
• Chapter Three: Hands of Darkness
• Chapter Three: Kingdome Come
• Chapter Three: ...Dust to Dust