Produced by Frederick Nördstrom
Released: 2006
Over their previous three albums, Dream Evil delivered nothing less than serious heavy metal, and United is no different. With Mark Black and Pat Powers stepping in to replace erstwhile former members Gus G and Snowy Shaw, United takes up exactly where The Book of Heavy Metal left off, as if there hadn’t been a two-year gap between them. Big surprises aren't to be expected of course, because apart from the lack of G’s dizzying shredding, Dream Evil has not diverged a single step from their chosen musical path.
Catchy, fist-pounding heavy metal oozes from every moment of this release. Frederick Nördstrom’s ear for a hook-laden riff and melody-drenched chorus line ensures Dream Evil never puts a foot wrong in that area and his production makes United gleam without faltering into the realm of heavy-handed plasticity. The inherent cheesiness of lyrics about Satan, evil (of course) and metal itself and song titles like “Fire! Battle! In Metal!” notwithstanding, it’s difficult to resist going into a headbanging frenzy while United rips through your speakers.
Where the album falls down, however, is in its overall facelessness. This could be any of Dream Evil’s albums, with the very obvious exception that Black, despite his ability, is no Gus G. Just like any band that sticks strictly to formula, Dream Evil is becoming less relevant and interesting with each release. So far they’ve been lucky and managed to keep up the quality because United is as enjoyable as everything else they’ve done, but one is left with the feeling that it must surely be only a matter of time before they succumb to HammerFall-style mediocrity.
- Fire! Battle! In Metal!
- United
- Blind Evil
- Evilution
- Let Me Out
- Higher on Fire
- Kingdom at War
- Love is Blind
- Falling
- Back from the Dead
- Doomlord
- My Number One
Rating: 70%
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