Dream Child is the latest release from the somewhat prolific (Lars Eric) Mattsson and is, I believe, his first effort since the last Book of Reflections CD which I certainly enjoyed. This time around he has recruited Adrienn Antal on vocals and a particularly fine job she does too! Hers is a pure voice occasionally reminiscent of Floor Jansen of After Forever and suits the metallic/classical styling of Mr. Mattsson perfectly. 

One of the first CD’s I ever reviewed for this site was Hauteville’s Relief Data Complete where I noted that (and somewhat pretentiously I am going to quote myself) Hauteville had made an album that, “in weeks to come....it will probably seem better than it does now.” This is exactly how I feel about Dream Child, although it may well be more immediate than Hauteville. 

There have been some very fine releases in the female vocal/progressive genre recently, Neverland's Reversing Time springs to mind in particular and Dream Child is every bit as good, and every bit as well constructed and arranged, as that particular opus. This is clearly evidenced on This is Our Time, as ong which is lushly orchestrated yet also feels East European in places and has a widdly keyboard solo as well. Heavenly. 

Perhaps the most interesting song is Heaven and Hell Unite which is in turns gothic, heavy, prog-tastic and really gives Mr. Mattsson free reign to indulge himself instrumentally. The song that really grabbed my attention though was Heart Of A Clown where Ms. Antal shines on a track that is possibly more of a straight forward rocker than most of others herein, at least until the solo arrives whence it goes its own merry way. The guitar work on this one is particularly good especially the way in which it interacts with the keyboards and Eddie Sledgehammer belts the living daylights out of his kit. 

If this was an essay I would, at this point, wrap things up with a pithy conclusion which would say that this is one of the classiest releases thus far in 2008 and if you like your metal with a progressive touch then you should seriously contemplate investigating this CD. In fact, that is exactly what you should do!

Let us know your views on Dream Child

Track Listing

Prelude to Life
I’m Coming Home
Dream Child
Killing Everything
This is Our Time
See the Dreamer Behold
Until Our Last Goodbye
Moonlight Dream
Heart of a Clown
Life in the Shadows
Heaven and Hell Unite
Goodbye

Line Up

Adrienn Antal - Vocals
Bjorn Lodin – Additional Vocals
Eddie Sledgehammer – Drums
Lars Eric Mattsson – Guitars/Bass/Keyboards