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Eagleheart: Dream Therapy

Melodic Heavy/Power/Speed Metal

3.5/5.0

Scarlet Records
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by Craig Hartranft,  11.21.2011

If Czech band Eagleheart's intent was to turn the knobs to 11 on their sophomore release, Dream Therapy, they have certainly succeeded. Recruiting Roland Grapow (Masterplan, ex-Helloween) to produce, they band pumps of the the volume with an album that can only be described as heavy, fast, and generally intense. Did I say fast? This isn't just melodic power metal. Check your radar guns because there's some serious speed (metal) here, too.

Above, Eagleheart: with a crowd of their most rabid fans.

Passing the intro, Insomnia, Shades of Nothing, Taste My Pain, and Lost in the Dead End are rapid pieces of heavy metal intensity that barely get tempered by the melody and the brisk guitar solos. Sometimes Eagleheart tries to trip you up by offering a lighter opening. For instance Creator Time has a harmonious choral intro before returning to the heavy intensity. Burned by the Sun does the same only with piano, and then its off to the races, with tanks instead of horses. Generally, it's rather overwhelming, too much of the same thing over and over again. It's not helped by vocalist Vojtech Simonik raw, raspy style. His strained screaming vocals are somewhere between irritating and over the top. However, when he settles down, somewhat, as on Wheel of Sorrow, he's actually pleasant and tolerable.

To their credit, Eagleheart is not always blistering intensity. Nothing Remains, while heavy, offers a more heavy metal anthem arrangement. Later, the aforementioned Wheel of Sorrow, the longest piece here, finds the band more expansive and deliberate, offering an engaging arrangement with a symphonic atmosphere. For my money, these are the best two songs on an album. Otherwise this album is repetitive and predictable in three simple words: heavy, fast, and intense. If that was their goal, than Eagleheart has advanced their cause.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

On Dream Therapy, their second release, Eagleheart desired to up the intensity with a heavier and faster paced album. They've succeeded. The knobs are at eleven.

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