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trax:
1. The Dawn
2. Memories of Time
3. Fallen Star
4. Heart's Desire
5. Where the Rainbow Ends
6. Time of Fatherhood
7. Dreamland
8. Call of the Wild
9. Dancing in the Twilight *
10. Refuge from Reality
11. Silent Path
12. Farewell...
Band:
Rami Kerдnen - Vocals & Guitar
Esa Orjatsalo - Guitar
Alois Weimer - Bass
Turkka Vuorinen - Keyboards
Pete Rosenbom - Drums
Female lead/backing vocals: Sanna Natunen, Lead vocals on Heart's Desire and Where The Rainbow Ends: Marco Hietala, Additional backing vocals: Jenny Heinonen, Johanna Pursiainen, Niko Rauhala, Rami Kerдnen, Pasi Ristolainen, Esa Orjatsalo. Violin: Laura Jaatinen, Storytellers voice on The Dawn (Hummel Gets the Rockets) & Fallen Star: Pasi Ristolainen, Voice of the spirit on Call of the Wild: Esa Orjatsalo.
Lyrics edited by Gary Carson, Pasi Ristolainen and Esa Orjatsalo.
Cover artwork & logo design by Tero Junkkila.
label: Spinefarm Records
The Finnish melodic metal horde rages on... Also Dreamtale hails from this icy Northern European country. Founded in 1999 by its leader Rami Kerдnen, the band released two demo tapes: "Shadow Of The Frozen Sun" in the year of foundation and 2000’s "Refuge From Reality". The latter tape was recorded when the right line up was tested and found during a couple of live performances with Sinergy a.o. It was later chosen from 500 demo productions to participate in a Finnish hit challenge. Excerpts from that contest were shown on the national tv channel and raised more interest for the band. This gave Rami and his fellows the courage to go on and refine the second demo tape in the beginning of 2001. The newly produced version was sold out on the day of its release, a great deal of copies finding a new owner in Japan. This of course caused many record labels
fighting for this young talentful band, but it was the major Spinefarm Records (Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Virtuocity a.o.) that won the war. The mixing and mastering wizards from the Finnvox studios, Mikko Karmila and Mika Jussila respectively, were asked to help the band and producer Pasi Ristolainen in the studio during the recordings of their debut album. The result has got the name "Beyond Reality".
Also musically, Dreamtale fish in the same pond as fellow countrymen Sonata Arctica and Nightwish, albeit that they are more straightforward in my view. Fast songs like "Memories Of Time" and "Refuge From Reality" form by far the biggest part of this album. The platter starts off remarkably with a metalized version of the instrumental "Hummel Gets The Rockets", which was written by Nick Glennie-Smith and Hans Zimmer and used for the soundtrack of the movie "The Rock". Bet they have been inspired by Nightwish for this, as the latter already performed own versions of "Walking In The Air", "Phantom Of The Opera" and a part from "Deep Blue Sea". But this intro and ballad "Silent Path" – with nice vocals of female guest Sanna Natunen, who also sings on the Nightwish like "Farewell..." – are the only truly calm pieces on the disc, which is in that way a little unbalanced if you ask me. Nevertheless, there are a few interesting tracks amongst those. I’m speaking of "Fallen Star" and "Heart’s Desire" for example, of which the latter features another guest on vocals, namely Marco Hietala (Nightwish, ex-Sinergy), who can also be heard on "Where The Rainbow Ends". As you could expect when Mikko and Mika are involved, nothing bad can be said about the production of the album, but it’s not the sound quality that we’re used to hear on albums by the bigger Finnish bands.
In short, "Beyond Reality" is quite a nice product, but I think the band still lacks the quality of their inspirators. Althoug he is a good vocalist, also the voice of Rami Kerдnen doesn’t sound 100% OK from time to time or maybe the sound of it is not really my cup of tea. You should decide for yourself to be sure you’re not missing out on something here. Absolutely worth a try!
1. The Dawn
2. Memories of Time
3. Fallen Star
4. Heart's Desire
5. Where the Rainbow Ends
6. Time of Fatherhood
7. Dreamland
8. Call of the Wild
9. Dancing in the Twilight *
10. Refuge from Reality
11. Silent Path
12. Farewell...
Band:
Rami Kerдnen - Vocals & Guitar
Esa Orjatsalo - Guitar
Alois Weimer - Bass
Turkka Vuorinen - Keyboards
Pete Rosenbom - Drums
Female lead/backing vocals: Sanna Natunen, Lead vocals on Heart's Desire and Where The Rainbow Ends: Marco Hietala, Additional backing vocals: Jenny Heinonen, Johanna Pursiainen, Niko Rauhala, Rami Kerдnen, Pasi Ristolainen, Esa Orjatsalo. Violin: Laura Jaatinen, Storytellers voice on The Dawn (Hummel Gets the Rockets) & Fallen Star: Pasi Ristolainen, Voice of the spirit on Call of the Wild: Esa Orjatsalo.
Lyrics edited by Gary Carson, Pasi Ristolainen and Esa Orjatsalo.
Cover artwork & logo design by Tero Junkkila.
label: Spinefarm Records
The Finnish melodic metal horde rages on... Also Dreamtale hails from this icy Northern European country. Founded in 1999 by its leader Rami Kerдnen, the band released two demo tapes: "Shadow Of The Frozen Sun" in the year of foundation and 2000’s "Refuge From Reality". The latter tape was recorded when the right line up was tested and found during a couple of live performances with Sinergy a.o. It was later chosen from 500 demo productions to participate in a Finnish hit challenge. Excerpts from that contest were shown on the national tv channel and raised more interest for the band. This gave Rami and his fellows the courage to go on and refine the second demo tape in the beginning of 2001. The newly produced version was sold out on the day of its release, a great deal of copies finding a new owner in Japan. This of course caused many record labels
fighting for this young talentful band, but it was the major Spinefarm Records (Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Virtuocity a.o.) that won the war. The mixing and mastering wizards from the Finnvox studios, Mikko Karmila and Mika Jussila respectively, were asked to help the band and producer Pasi Ristolainen in the studio during the recordings of their debut album. The result has got the name "Beyond Reality".
Also musically, Dreamtale fish in the same pond as fellow countrymen Sonata Arctica and Nightwish, albeit that they are more straightforward in my view. Fast songs like "Memories Of Time" and "Refuge From Reality" form by far the biggest part of this album. The platter starts off remarkably with a metalized version of the instrumental "Hummel Gets The Rockets", which was written by Nick Glennie-Smith and Hans Zimmer and used for the soundtrack of the movie "The Rock". Bet they have been inspired by Nightwish for this, as the latter already performed own versions of "Walking In The Air", "Phantom Of The Opera" and a part from "Deep Blue Sea". But this intro and ballad "Silent Path" – with nice vocals of female guest Sanna Natunen, who also sings on the Nightwish like "Farewell..." – are the only truly calm pieces on the disc, which is in that way a little unbalanced if you ask me. Nevertheless, there are a few interesting tracks amongst those. I’m speaking of "Fallen Star" and "Heart’s Desire" for example, of which the latter features another guest on vocals, namely Marco Hietala (Nightwish, ex-Sinergy), who can also be heard on "Where The Rainbow Ends". As you could expect when Mikko and Mika are involved, nothing bad can be said about the production of the album, but it’s not the sound quality that we’re used to hear on albums by the bigger Finnish bands.
In short, "Beyond Reality" is quite a nice product, but I think the band still lacks the quality of their inspirators. Althoug he is a good vocalist, also the voice of Rami Kerдnen doesn’t sound 100% OK from time to time or maybe the sound of it is not really my cup of tea. You should decide for yourself to be sure you’re not missing out on something here. Absolutely worth a try!