DREAM EVIL

Formed with the sole intention of celebrating the magic of '80s metal, DREAM EVIL have always been an easy band to get along with. From early albums like their 2002 debut "Dragonslayer" and the all-conquering "The Book Of Heavy Metal" (2004),  to later efforts like the brilliant "In The Night" (2010),  the Swedes have been refreshingly straightforward about their motives and ambitions. This has always been an honest exercise in playing heavy metal, the old-school way, and DREAM EVIL have been among the modern scene's most effective communicators of the genre's ancient code. There have been dips of form along the way, of course. The band's last album, "Six" (2017),  was enjoyable enough, but failed to reach previous heights and sounded, in truth, like the work of musicians who sorely needed to rediscover their passion. Seven years on, "Metal Gods" proves that they have done just that.

If it seems a bit on-the-nose that DREAM EVIL have named their seventh album, in essence, after a JUDAS PRIEST classic, it is absolutely meant to be. Guitarist (and noted producer) Fredrik Nordstrom and his comrades have made a wholesale return to the celebratory power metal uproar that informed their early records. The results are big, dumb and utterly true to the spirit of the '80s, while still packing a punch worthy of the modern world.

At times, "Metal Gods" is so unashamedly goofy and to-the-point that it could, in less capable hands, seem like a parody. But these men have decades of metal experience behind them, and they understand where the credibility line is. DREAM EVIL have always been upfront about their simple artistic goals and sincere in their allegiance to the metal cause, and so even at their most thunderously prosaic, there is never any doubt that they are serious about making heads bang. Beyond that, "Metal Gods" is a non-stop, over-the-top heavy metal party with anthems in plentiful supply.

The title track might not have the same authority as the PRIEST song of the same name, but it comes pretty close. As a way to begin this self-evident reclamation of first values, it could hardly be better. Vocalist Niklas Isfeldt has such a pure and true heavy metal voice that he could sing about vegan cuisine and he would still sound imperious and metal as fuck. On "Metal Gods" he is in his element and contributes greatly to a sense that DREAM EVIL have definitely got their shit together this time around.

When the brooding, mid-paced "Chosen Force" takes up the baton, sonically pristine crunch blends seamlessly with zingy, EUROPE-like radio-rock melodies, and everyone leaves with a sore neck. The breakneck pomp of "The Tyrant Dies at Dawn" is equally convincing, and an instructive exercise in how to repurpose well-worn musical tropes with a haughty swagger. "Lightning Strikes" (which, incidentally, is one letter away from having the same title as another JUDAS PRIEST song) is a full-bore '80s metal splurge with refined MAIDEN harmonies and another huge chorus with a touch of DOKKEN and WHITESNAKE in its DNA. Similarly, "Insane" absolutely reeks of the late '80s and comes across as a deft amalgam of SCORPIONS and "The Warning"-era QUEENSRYCHE, but with a monstrous guitar tone that would have made people's ears fall off had it existed back then. As for the now mandatory ballad, the closing "Y.A.N.A." ("You Are Nothing Alone") is an absolute peach, with Isfeldt on sublime form as his bandmates do their finest FOREIGNER impression, albeit (again) with an overpowering wall of guitars tethering everything to the here and now.

The best DREAM EVIL album since "The Book Of Heavy Metal", "Metal Gods" is a loud, proud and utterly adorable love letter to our beloved genre. This metal business was never meant to be complicated, but it can still be eminently classy. This dream lives.