Dream Tröll: Second to None (2019)

Dream Tröll is one of my favorite bands that I have discovered this year.  That is mostly based on the strength of The Witch's Curse EP, though their first full-length, The Knight of Rebellion, is a fantastic release as well.  So, of course I was excited about their new release.

The first four songs on this release are awesome, and insanely catchy.  The choruses in "Steel Winged Warrior", "I Will Not Die Today" and "Chrome Skull Viper" in particular are absolute ear-worms.  Where the songs really succeed is in their ability to combine power metal with 1980's style arena rock.  And the infectious hooks and choruses are just a part of that.  This combination is particularly prevalent on "Checkmate...Annihilate!" which has several moments, such as the climax, that would make Van Halen proud.  The song genuinely starts off sounding like Bon Jovi.

The album is driven by incredibly strong performances on guitar, vocals and keyboards.  Dream Tröll comes damn close to synth-rock in several places and there are multiple shredding keyboard solos.  If that is what you would call such an instrumentally-proficient solo. 

If there are any negatives, the major one would be that the album is quite long and some of the songs tend to overstay their welcome.  "Chrome Skull Viper" is a great song, but it could have easily been just a four or five minute song, instead of the over seven minutes that it lasts.  The chorus repeats more often than it really needs to.  The only other quibble is that after the awesome first half, the second half kind of disappoints.  The best songs are all on the first half and could have been placed in a better sequence.  But these are fairly minor quibbles.

This is the third release I have picked up from Dream Tröll this year and each one has been very impressive.  I still do not think that it quite matches the incredible EP that I mentioned before, but I do like it better than the debut full-length.  This is a band that I am vowing to follow as they continue to put out music. 

Dream Tröll: The Knight of Rebellion (2017)

After I loved The Witch's Curse so much, it was only a matter of time before I picked up some of the other material by the Leeds-based band Dream Tröll.  I started with the band's debut album which was released the prior year. 

First of all, let's talk about the album cover.  Now, I could be wrong (though I seldom am), but I am pretty sure the band basically adapted an image from He-Man for that cover.  In fact, having been a huge fan when I was young, I am almost positive that is what we are looking at.  He-Man holding up the Power Sword in front of the Castle Greyskull.  So, that is pretty damn awesome.

Now onto the music.  Honestly, after The Witch's Curse, I was slightly disappointed with this release.  I was kind of hoping all of the band's albums would basically be a rock/metal opera, and that was not the case with this album.  These are much more straightforward power/heavy metal songs and they do not appear to tell a cohesive story.  There are moments where the theatricality appears, particularly in "A Fairy's Tale", which features a few moments of spoken-word narration. 

My disappointment in the lack of story-telling notwithstanding, the album is quite good.  It is mostly slower to mid-paced, lengthier songs with a lot of melody.  The vocals and the lead guitar mostly compete for attention.  The choruses are infectious as hell, particularly on "Velvet Drawbridge" and "Lost in the Pages".  They are not to the same level as those on The Witch's Curse, but they are damn good in their own right.

This album has been growing on me since picking it up.  It is not what I expected, but the album is still very good.  I will still be exploring the music of Dream Tröll, even if The Witch's Curse is more of the exception, rather than the rule.

Dream Tröll: The Witch's Curse (2018)

I fucking LOVE this EP.  Honestly, I have probably listened to this EP more than any other album in my collection since I picked it up.  It is absolutely an incredible listen, musically and lyrically.  There is a theatricality about it as well that calls to mind the concept albums by groups like King Diamond and others.

The EP tells the story of a witch's curse and the battle of one man to free his beloved from the effects of the curse.  The characters are Cyrian, the protagonist who is sent to kill his father Enki in order to lift the curse.  But Enki, after a protracted battle, decides he will not kill his son and decides to lift the curse instead.  And so Cyrian returns to the witch's lair in order to reclaim his beloved Isabella.  It is an incredibly detailed and ambitious story and shocking that it is something original written by the band.  It is also not finally resolved, leaving open the possibility that a sequel could be coming.

Musically, Dream Tröll's sound on this one is a style of heavy metal that has influences from power metal and doom metal.  There are frequent guitar solos and keyboard lines as well as gang vocals.  There is a lot going on musically here, but it is the storytelling that is really the key to this release.  I mentioned the theatricality previously.  The vocals are delivered in different styles depending on the character's point of view.

I fell for this EP the first time I heard it and that has not lessened ever since.  I have checked out Dream Tröll's other releases.  Unfortunately, those releases, while quite good in their own rights, are missing the theatricality and story-telling that is present on this one.  They are much more typical power metal releases while this one skirts the line with hard rock.  This is one of the greatest rock opera concept albums metal has seen in quite some time.