REVOICED

This is a re-recording of best songs from Dreamscape's first albums with a new vocalist. A pretty good one, I might add, slightly accented, but strong and emotional and without high pitched histrionics. A more manly La Brie, if you will.

At this point, Dreamscape is fairly compact prog metal. Songs are about 5 minutes length, with ample changes of mood, but no over-complicated song structures or lengthy solos. On subsequent albums they would get longer and even more intense and emotional. Dreamscape could reasonably be called Dreamtheater clone - a very good clone - if the band's leader didn't insist he formed it before anyone heard of Dreamtheater.

Anyway, Dreamscape distinguishes itself in this over-populated genre by doing very good contrasts in the music - thrash and melodic metal, heavy verse-light choruses (or vice versa), crushing guitar riffs and very diverse keyboards (in fact, keys are as much of a highlight as the guitar, doing both beautiful piano lines and dark atmospherics, playing independent melodies along with the guitar, not just complementing it).

The first albums, if rated independently, probably deserve a 3 star. But as a compilation of the better songs, this album and the even better 5th Season album (convincing 5 stars) are the ones from Dreamscape that I would keep.