Not just one but two reviews from the recent short Dream Evil tour:

Leeds - May 30th

The week leading up to this gig hadn’t exactly been a stellar  and most of the early part of this dayay was spent at the funeral of a much loved and respected family member which, not surprisingly, left me feeling decidedly less than happy. Due to the lateness of the post funeral “festivities” I was unable to make it to Leeds in time to interview the headliners, Sweden’s Dream Evil. In fact, for quite a while, it was touch and go whether I’d make the effort to venture down the M62 and M66 at all. In the end I decided to go because, it has been quite a while since I last saw Conquest of Steel and therefore some time since I’d been called a metal warrior! Also, Dream Evil are very much one of my favourite bands and I’d never had the pleasure previously whilst my eldest son has – and that’s just not on! 

One thing about Conquest of Steel is that you always know what you’re in for when you see them – unpretentious, unambiguous heavy metal with no airs and graces. Unless you’ve turned up at the wrong venue a good time is always assured andthis was no exception. As well as being my first Conquest encounter for almost three years, this was my first opportunity to see the band with James Clarke on guitar. Both he and the rest appeared to have a number of technical difficulties to cope with but still managed to satisfy the metal warriors of Leeds. 

May Your Blade Never Dull, Steel is the Law, I Am Legend and In Victory or Death all hit the spot before singer Dan Durrant announced that a cover version was looming,” To show all the chavs and trendies that metal will never die!”Time for some Priest, thought I but instead we were treated to a gleeful romp through Dio’s Holy Diver before rounding off an enjoyable set with Million Strong, Only the Devil Can Stop Us Now, Conquest of Steel and Can’t Stop the Metal. 

Opening with the title of the band’s last CD United it soon became apparent that Dream Evil had a much better sound than Conquest and a much better sound than Sonata Arctica had at the same venue a few weeks ago. It was equally apparent that singer Niklas Isfeldt was having problems with the high notes. Furthermore the backing vocals were suspiciously massive whether there were three members of the band singing or merely one. Hmm – not that ultimately it really mattered as the Evil cherry-picked from their own back catalogue to provide an excellent set. 

My own personal Evil track Blind Evil was up next and was fabulous as was Fire! Battle! Metal! But it was Crusader’s Anthem that was particularly special alongside Made of Metal with the always funny bit where Isfeldt tells his wife to shut up. It was remarkably like a heavy metal jukebox for the hour which the Evil performed. The Prophecy, Heavy Metal in the Night, Chosen Ones and the wonderful Children of the Night set things up very nicely for Chasing the Dragon and the obligatory finale of The Book of Heavy Metal - job done. It would be remiss of me not to mention the excellence of new guitarist Daniel Varghamne who was shredtastic. I’m not sure why Dream Evil played this short tour, there were no new songs on offer, nothing to promote but they certainly made the end of my day a lot better than the rest of it.

Simon Bray

Edinburgh - May 31st

This was a gig to get the old metallers excited, an evening of old school sweaty, denim clad, head banging metal and the venue was equally well suited to crusty beer soaked old metal dudes, perfect really seeing that there were quite a few of that ilk in attendance but in general the age range was varied indeed, ranging from ten year old lads to guys that looked old enough to be Lemmy's dad. 

Conquest Of Steel were up first and they very much fit into that heroic thrusting old school of proper metal. I had heard of them and caught a couple of tracks previously in passing but this was my first time checking out their live metal credentials. To say the band were enthusiastic would be an understatement and this enthusiasm carried over to the crowd resulting in an impressive reception, although I did think at one point vocalist Dan Durrant was going to accidentally decapitate someone thanks to the large broadsword he flailed around on stage with abandon, definitely a Manowar moment. 

The band had a decent length of set and gave a good blood and guts metal performance but a lot of  it just seemed that bit too much over the top and at points drifted into Spinal Tap territory. The manic, but sloppy, cover of Dio's Holy Diver didn't help, especially with Mr. Durrant fumbling the introduction to the song and although this may sound fairly critical they actually delivered exactly what the crowd were expecting and even brought a smile or two to my cynical old chops. I get the feeling this wasn't one of their most polished performances but as a warm up on this kind of evening they did what they set out to do and took many of the crowd back to the mid eighties. 

Now Dream Evil are one of the most over the top, cliched metal bands out there but they carry it off with a style, polish and heaviness that can turn the most critical metal fan into a manic head banging monster. I am no stranger to the band in the live circuit but I still keep being surprised how entertaining they are and it is easy to see why they are so popular in Europe in particular. First up was “United”, the title track of their last studio album and right away a wave of head banging and horns in the air kicked off. In Niklas Isfeldt they have a front man of unusual character and charisma with the ability to take what, on the surface, appears to be slightly crazy lyrics and deliver them with amazing aplomb. “Blind Evil” was next in what became an aural onslaught of crunching old school metal with rousing metal anthems following on one after another, “Fire! Battle! In Metal!”, “In Flames You Burn”, “Crusaders Anthem” and “The Prophecy” all taking the crowd to metal nirvana. The iconic but tongue in track “Made Of Metal” crunched in next and the girl in the front row nailed the wifely vocals part bang on in timing. Mr Isfeldt had the crowd in the palm of his hand and the band were giving a masterclass in pure heavy metal. Dream Evil also gained a temporary new band member when a young lad from the front row was invited on stage to lend a hand in backing vocals and he did a not bad at all job.  

This was a band that could do no wrong and further anthemic metal classics “Heavy Metal In The Night”, “The Chosen Ones” and “Children Of The Night” powered through the crowd. I don't think there was a point that the crowd didn't sing along with every word and by the time the encore tracks “Chasing The Dragon” and “The Book Of Heavy Metal” came up the crowd was getting as loud as the band and I thought the wee lad on stage was going to head bang his head right off. I knew Dream Evil were going to be good but this was just fantastic and it really was an honour to see a band of this league at the top of their game. This was a very short tour so hopefully they will be back soon to promote their forthcoming new release and I for one will be first in the queue next time they are back.

Mike Clark