(Power Metal) Lucid Dreaming - The Chronicles Pt. I - 2013, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Ah! Limb music, power metal! was my first thought when I received this album. And indeed, Lucid Dreaming is a new project from German guitarist, Till Oberboel (Elvenpath), in which he follows the footsteps of fellow compatriots Tobia Sammet (Edguy) and Tarek Maghary (Majesty), who alongside their main bands also operate on their own projects Avantasia and Dawnrider. Of course were dealing with a concept album here, based on The Chronicles Of Prydain novels by fantasy author Lloyd Alexander, dealing with Welsh mythology. Except for the compositions and the lyrics, Till has also been responsible for all the bass- and key parts and some of the guitar parts on the album. The other instrumentalists are his Elvenpath colleague Oliver Rossow and Michael Petrick (Synchronic) on the lead guitar and Philipp Koch (Synchronic, Opalessence) on drums. And of course we have a long list of guest vocalists. There are no big names here, like it is the case with Avantasia for example, but that's also irrelevant really.

It is all one big cliche, but that shouldn't spoil the fun. Musically it is all equally cliche and exactly what you can expect from a project of this type: melodic power metal with a symphonic touch and, due to the concepts character, influences from Celtic/folk corners. Unfortunately its not as grand or spectacular as you might have expected or hoped for. Musically Lucid Dreaming leans towards compatriots like Majesty, Wizard, Paragon and co. but doesn't manage to match those bands, and what we have here is rather simple, thirteen-in-a-dozen power metal. With Motherless Child, The Quest For The White Pig, Land Of Darkness, Where Evil Rides especially the galloping headbanger The Price we do get a couple of highly respectable power metal tracks. The rest of the material varies from average to below average and the (semi-) ballad Side By Side is right-on horrible in my opinion.

In general the music is a bit too long-winded and the songs don't have any real highlights. The use of different singers is of course good for the variety. Unfortunately not all singers are as convincing and also vocalists like a.o. Elvenpath colleague Dragutin Kremenovic, Alexx Stahl (Roxxcalibur), Leo Stivala (Forsaken) and Thassilo Herbert (Dragonsfire) arent that well-known and therefore unfortunately not really recognizable. The female vocalists Jutta Weinhold (Zed Yago) and Ruth Knepel (Opalessence) even see to earal torments regularly and drag the songs down with their performances at times.

The Chronicles Pt. 1 is really not a bad album, but it also doesn't have what it takes to rise above the average and match the likes of Dawnrider, Fairyland or Fogalord (who last year debuted strongly with A Legend To Believe In). The title, as well as the fact that the album covers only two novels of five from The Chronicles Of Prydain, imply that there will be more records. So lets see that as a second chance, because this debut is not really it yet.

Review written by Nima for www.lordsofmetal.nl

Till Oberboßel - Guitars



Guest Musicians:

Philipp Koch - Drums
Michael Petrick - Guitars (lead)
Oliver Rossow - Guitars (lead)
Torsten Thassilo Herbert - Vocals
Ruth Knepel - Vocals
Leo Stivala - Vocals
Jvo Julmy - Vocals
Jutta Weinhold - Vocals
Jordan Cutajar - Vocals
Jason Conde-Houston - Vocals
Eva Kreuzer - Vocals
Dragutin Kremenovic - Vocals
Chris J. Marino - Vocals
Alex Stahl - Vocals