1. Dark Moor The Hall Of The Olden Dreams

DARK MOOR lyrics - 'Hall Of The Olden Dreams' (2000) album, including 'Hand In Hand', 'Quest For The Eternal Fame', 'Beyond The Fire'.

I heard about Dark Moor through a good friend of mine who lives in California, I never really payed heed to them or anything, when I saw the cover art for this album I shook it off as an attempted Blind Guardian rip off. After having received a song from said buddy and putting my play list on my media player on shuffle and hearing 'Somewhere in Dreams' I fell in love right away. After searching my usual record shops for anything from them my luck turned when the smallest one had a copy of this album (small is sometimes a good thing). When I first popped it into my CD player in my vehicle and heard 'The Ceremony' right away my mind when to Rhapsody, but way better. Rarely do I find albums that strike a perfect balance of instruments and this is one of those the keyboards are the perfect volume, the guitars are nice and audible, and best of all the vocals. I didn't know until I got home the vocalist was a woman. She sounds like Fabio Leone with something else there I cant really say, best to say she's not like the usual typical female metal vocalist, all operatic and gothy, no this woman is metal straight up!

Dark Moor The Hall Of The Olden Dreams

Every track on here is amazing striking the perfect mix of classical and metal with well written fantasy lyrics that I've not heard in awhile, also the backing choruses make it FAR more than your average power metal album, only Blind Guardian top these. The best track on here being 'Somewhere in Dreams' for me, I can listen to it all day and not get bored. This is a wholehearted recommendation to pick this up for whatever price. Quite possibly the biggest complaint I find for the album though is the solo's seem to short, but there's still enough melody and interludes where it should not dissuade you.

Dark Moor were a very good band at the recording of 'Shadowland'. However, they have increased their production quality and brought out more of their classical flair with 'The Hall Of The Olden Dreams'.

The good thing about higher recording budgets is that the neo-classical guitar solos are a lot easier to hear, and they sound about one hundred times better. With 'Shadowland' the guitars sounded sort of distant, but that problem is gone now.

You hear this improvement the most with the fifth track, 'Silver Lake', which features speedy riffing and a solo that is a highlight in Dark Moor's career. A drawback to this album was the fact that the songs were much less different from one another. With their previous piece the songs definitely had more variety.

I am not saying their is no variety here, however, but most of the songs sound alike, with the exceptions of 'Beyond The Fire' and Sound Of The Blade'. Unvarying songs is not usually a bad thing, especially with a band with such good style, but I became just slightly bored around track six.

The only other gripe I have about the CD is how Dark Moor have found themselves a certain annoying trademark. This is the fact that their works start out with shitty instrumentals, which have no purpose whatsoever, except to fill a gap.

This 'tradition' will be continued later as well, with their later albums. The people who buy these CDs are into METAL, not little classical interludes, for Christ's sake. Anyone who enjoyed Shadowland, I would strongly recommend picking up this CD. Dark Moor is quite an interesting band to follow, and this is a landmark in their career. How many power metal bands you know that have symphonic elements but can still be called symphonic and metal AT ONCE? Dark Moor is one. This album isn't really original or makes something new, but where a lot of bands have failed in making metal with symphonic elements and still being metal, Dark Moor succeeds.

(I'm looking at you, Rhapsody and Nightwish. Those gay bands that think having a girl singing and some symphony makes them gothic, take a note too) All the classic power metal elements are here. Good solos (Somewhere in Dreams), amazing riffs (Maid of Orleans), fast and good drumming (Beyond the Fire), extreme catchyness (Silver Lake), the obligatory ballad (Sound of the Blade) and the obligatory epic (Quest For The Eternal Fame).

But the most important element, and where this album most shines, is the vocalist, Elisa. Yes, she's a girl. But believe me if I say she's the best female metal singer ever. She sounds like Fabio Lione, but much better and less homo (yes, Fabio, you are HOMO!). In fact the best track, Mortal Sins, is where Elisa really shines (coincidence!), and the most popular song, Silver Lake, has the best chorus (more coincidence!).

Not every track is a masterpiece. Bellso f Notre Dame is the weakest here (but still listenable).

The ballad is good, but there are no guitars, and isn't memorable. And I'd expect more of the epic, but hey, it's still quite good. So if you never tossed your Rhapsody albums away because you thought they were unique, now you can: The Hall of the Olden Dreams is here.

PD:Luca Turilli, take some notes. Dark moor plays melodic power metal. The band does not reinvent this genre, but still does extraorinarily well by showing a feeling for beautiful and catchy melodies.

All songs come with powerful choruses which are sung by the whole band, who are backing the lead singer. The main vocalist shows a gorgeous performance and is one of the few female singers who have to be taken seriously. She does not sound like a gothic-metal-'fallen angel' with overly exaggerated soft melody lines. There is power and expression in her voice, without singing harshly in a Janis Joplin-like style.

One can clearly tell her from a male - and her voice perfectly fits the music. Eight songs on the record are metal tunes, sometimes with classical inspirations (but clearly not as intensely as in Rhapsody's compositions for example - so 'metal' dominates the songs). One song is a ballad, which is one of the saddest songs I have ever heard. Depressive people should listen to it with caution, for it may easily break one's heart. All in all, there are nine tunes (plus a nice instrumental intro, making a total of 10 tracks). There are no fillers on this album, but the first 5 songs are easier to get into. Lyrically the album covers mostly fantasy themes, but also contains some historical issues ('Maid of Orleans', for example.) The lyrics are well-written, with lots of emotion and passion, avoiding stereotypical fantasy-cliches.

So this album is definitely woth a listen in your local record-store. Best songs on the album (of course personal opinion): - Somewhere in Dreams - Silver Lake - Maid of Orleans - The sound of the blade.