AXENSTAR – Where Dreams Are Forgotten (CD)

Swedish power metal band Axenstar have been around for quite some time now. They started out as a cover band back in 1998 and made their first album in 2002. I must say they have evolved quite nicely by each album. Singer Magnus Winterwild started out as the band’s keyboardist, but his decision to become a singer was a really good one as his clean and strong voice fits the slightly progressive power metal perfectly. To be honest, my interest for power metal has more or less vanished the last couple of years, due to over exposure, probably ;-). However, while listening to “When Dreams Are Forgotten” I do realize there’s actually still some good power metal out there as well. The reason why Axenstar slips my through the net for me, is probably because 1. They lean a bit more towards the proggier side, which gives me a vibe of Pagan’s Mind. 2. They skip all the major scale happy lucky sing-a-long choruses that give me the shivers. A great and fat production by the band and Pelle Saether also gives the album a bump in the right direction. Then there are songs like the excellent “Curse Of The Tyrant” which sounds a bit like if you would mix Candlemass and Helloween, power metal with quite doomy riffs. Nice! Not bad at all, especially for a power metal album.

Janne Stark

Year: 2014
Label: Inner Wound
Country: Sweden