Ok, here in Attitude Towers we’ve had a brainwave. As we all know, reviews are basically personal opinions all flowered up and put down on paper. This often means that certain albums get a poor review simply due to the personal tastes of the reviewer. Therefore in a bold, most likely plagiarised (I don’t think so – Ed), move, we’ve decided to introduce our new feature (drum roll please) - Album of the bimonthly issue type thing.

Basically each issue one album will be reviewed by a panel of our prize winning writers, not only to ensure fairness, but also to show how futile the whole exercise of critical review is, and how no review should be trusted for gospel (that’s a fantastic idea, the person that thought that up should be given a really big present – Ed). In a further act of courage, I put it to you our loyal reader, to feel free to nominate an album for this treatment (preferably a new release, but we may do classics) and choose your favourite members of the Attitude staff to dish the dirt on said musical piece, be it album, EP, single or demo. Obviously we may not be able to track down every release that you nominate, but if you don’t ask then we won’t try!

Anyway, dear reader, I give you the first multi-reviewed album to feature in Attitude, which just happens to be Dreams by Amsvartner (Lucky Bastards!).

Brought to you courtesy of the Graeme and Psychobitch double act.

AMSVARTNER
DREAMS

My first impression was dodgy Swedish Black Metal, but thankfully I was very wrong. What we have here is nine tracks of the best quality extreme metal I've heard in a long time. Amsvartner score points on originality, catchiness, accessability, and somehow extremity at the same time. The songwriting is top-notch, so I can't really pick out much in the way of highlights, but be sure that they combine the best of Anathema, Rotting Christ, Iron Maiden, and perhaps Entombed.

Perhaps the best track is the fabulous and well named Funkyman, a track written by their old guitarist just before he left the band. It is definitely a different style to the rest of the album, but it fits perfectly and sets the album apart from others. Curiously, the band have said that they wish that song had not been included. That would have been a bad move!

Vocally there's the usual shouty growls complemented by a pleasant singing voice at times, and they're just right in the mix.

Kevin's verdict: One of the best albums so far this year!

Amsvartner mix a number of different metal styles together here, and the result is impressive. You've got heavy guitars reminiscent of Megadeth in parts, together with almost Maiden-esque leads, which in parts come close to sounding cheesy. The brutal, aggressive vocal style, however, compensates for this, giving the songs a new dimension.

The band themselves describe this as "an original masterpiece of extreme music" - while I may not agree with the "original" part entirely, they have given good ol' fashioned heavy metal a new twist, which makes this album refreshing and extremely enjoyable.  Scott

Amsvartner are certainly a very original band. This album has a lot of light and space within its texture whilst still being incredibly powerful and aggressive. It's how I imagine Anathema would sound if they all were in a very very aggro mood. Possibly if they react to mixing Pro-Plus and alcohol the way I do -- I get into evil-paranoid-pycho-bitch mode and start thinking everyone's taking the piss.

There are elements of Doom, Black metal and even plain old Rock'n'Roll in this album and it's not easily categorised. The music's really catchy, tight, energetic, and the drums are excellent.

On the down side, the lyrics are rather odd due to the band's lack of fluency in English. The grammar is a bit strange. I have to say, though, that metal's always been more about the feelings and vibe given off by the music rather than the meaning and beauty of the lyrics. A lot of metal classics have laughable lyrics which merely add to their charm. I don't think Amsvartner will suffer for this as the music itself is wonderfully eloquent.

Wolfbitch's verdict: If life were fair, this band would be on the way to HUGENESS.  They deserve it.

Ok, alarm bells started to ring when I read the bands name. Must be Black Metal then. This fear was deepened when I read the guff that comes with the album, which states that Amsvartner are original and Dreams has been conceived for those who loath the futility of the biggest part of the contemporary metal music (no I don’t know what that means either).

Anyway having listened to the album, I can state that Dreams is not black Metal, but sadly neither is it wholly new and original. The band do throw in a mixture of influences but the album is basically Death Metal in the vain of the last Arch Enemy release with a few wacky and zany (don’t forget kerazee and madcap too – Ed) ideas thrown in. One of these is the track, Funkyman, which is both the best and most irritating on the album. This is down to the nice instrumental work of the band throwing in a Sabbathy type groove (whoopee – Ed), which is totally destroyed by the roaring vocal delivery which fits in like a landmine in a playground. Kind of like Entombed, but shite (no, it’s sabbath that’s shite – Psychobitch).

However, Dreams is not a poor album. There is a lot of class and excellent muscianship, its just all spoiled by the rather arrogant claim of originality. Basically the vocalist is the extra cook who’s spoiling the broth. The guy can sing as he shows on the title track, but for much of the album decides to remain in throat wrenching territory. Surely if they’re looking to be so incredibly different, then varying the vocals from the bog standard is essential. However I’ll give him some plus points for The Predator (which he gets to rhyme with 'my undertaker').

Basically Dreams is a very good extreme album, which those with a taste for heavy and intelligent will enjoy. If you dug Heartwork, Wolverine Blues, Gothic et al then you’ll like this. However if you truly are looking for originality then this won’t set your world alight. Dreams - it doesn’t do exactly what it says on the tin.

Graeme's rating: **********

On first listen (which is usually what most reviews are done by), this sounds like Cradle Of Filth trying some Iron Maiden hooks in their songs. Don’t be put off by that though (I know I would be), as it’s actually not bad at all in practice. I like it, and I’d be interested in hearing more stuff from them. Iceman

This CD is of Sort of Death Metal (I think There are too many catagories). For the first 30 seconds I thought that it was cool as it sounded almost like some early Metallica and then the vocals started and that just spoiled it for me as I am not a great fan of the shouting type vocals. The music played behind the vocals was good and definitely worth listening too; if I could find some way of removing the vocals I would really like this band.

I have found that if you listen to something a couple of times it begins to sound better, which admittedly this has done as i have listened to it about 6 times and it gets better every time. This is due to the music that is being played not being all out speed. They do play some not exactly slow but listenable riffs in which you can hear all the guitar work, and the drums aren't just all out thumping; there are some almost rock type beats in there which sound very good. I think if I could get used to the vocals I would really like this band because they play some very good riffs and songs.

All in all I would say this is a very good album if you like this kind of music, and even for some people who are not 100% into this style may like as it has grown on me.  MalkyT