Dream Evil Concert Review/Interview
Malmö Sweden, February 2003
By Anders Sandvall
Thanks to Cindy and Century Media
Sweden for all the help at the show
Dream Evil was supporting HammerFall throughout Europe, together with special guests
Masterplan. They have already toured through Europe, and Scandinavia was the last stop on
the tour.
Dream Evil opened as scheduled and played for 30 minutes. The band has just released
the incredible strong and new record “Evilized.” That record is in my opinion
the best power metal record this year, and its going to be really hard to beat this during
2003.
When I saw Dream Evil last year (they were the supporting act for Blind Guardian at
Mejeriet in Lund, Sweden) I thought it was a real strong performance when you consider
that they hadn't done very many live gigs.
Yesterday evening it was time to see them again. They played six songs - mostly songs
from “Dragonslayer". Sadly, they only did two new songs. I thought they were
going to play more songs from “Evilized.” The sound was very good, and even
though they still haven't played very much live as a band - they were very strong. In
Stockholm, Niklas had problems with a sore throat and vocally he was not at his best this
evening. As a unit the band has worked hard to improve themselves in concert, and it
showed. It was a big difference compared to the gig in Lund last year.
Line-up:
Niklas Isfeldt - lead vocals
Fredrik Nordström - guitar
Gus G. - guitar
Peter Stålfors - bass
Snowy Shaw - drums
They started with one of the new tracks: “Made of Metal.” Everybody was
moving all over the very large stage. Last year in Lund, Fredrik seemed to be a bit
absent-minded, but that was not the case now. Peter and Niklas are two big stage
personalities. Gus G is very impressive on the guitar, and he´s going to be one of the
future role models for new guitarists all over the world. Everybody in the band works
really hard to get the audience going.
What can you say about Snowy? He´s technical, fast, hits hard, and has an enormous
capacity. He is a living legend. Even if the audience was not so big in Baltiska Hallen -
about 1500 with the capacity of 4000 - they did the best they could to support Dream Evil.
The other new song from “Evilized” was “Children of the night.” A
really sing-a-long friendly song with a very strong chorus. From the debut they played
“Chasing the Dragon”, “Heavy Metal in the Night” and “The
Prophecy” amongst others. For the final song they played “The Chosen Ones”
and in that song you could hear that Niklas' voice was not at its best. “The Chosen
Ones” was also very sing-a-long friendly and it works pretty good without strings as
well. Dream Evil crushed everyone again - it was a really strong show. I´m just waiting
for them to headline so they can play longer. Everybody who doesn't have
“Dragonslayer” or “Evilized” should buy them now! Dream Evil is
power/heavy metal at its best. The best act this evening was Dream Evil - they crushed the
other two bands completely.
Set-list
Made of Metal
Chasing the Dragon
The Prophecy
Children of the Night
Heavy metal In The Night
The Chosen Ones
I also got the chance to interview Fredrik Nordström about the new album and about
this tour.
Did you think your debut “Dragonslayer” was going to be such a success?
I thought that it would work better than it did, but it went over my expectations.
How much did you tour for the debut?
Very few gigs. Some festival shows, some gigs in Japan, and supporting Blind Guardian
in Sweden.
When I saw you live in Lund last year you hadn't done very many live gigs together,
but you were incredibly strong live. I felt like the band had played together for many
years. How do you explain that?
Everyone has played a lot with other bands before they joined Dream Evil, so they are
very experienced and know how to rock an audience.
The new album “Evilized” was released very shortly after the debut. I
think that “Evilized” is more varying than the debut. What is your
opinion
about that? When did you have time to write “Evilized?”
The debut was a bit old so we started to write before we went on tour with
HammerFall and we wanted to release it as fast as we could.
Which of the songs on the album are you most satisfied with?
I especially like “Children of the Night” and “Evilized.”
Which one of the albums are you most satisfied with?
The debut is more of a theme album than the new one, and we also have to hurry up a bit
to put out the new album before the tour.
What is the response from the fans/press on “Evilized”?
I haven't seen many reviews on the new record because we’ve been on tour, but the
ones I’ve read was very positive - especially the Germans like it a lot.
The lyrics on the debut were a lot about dragons, demons, and kings. What are the
lyrics about on this album?
“Dragonslayer” was a theme album. The new album is more dark and mature.
It’s about nightmares and those kind of things.
You chosen to produce this album by yourself- why? And how does it work to produce
yourself on record?
It took two months to get the debut ready. The new album took only 23 days. Everyone in
the band has been involved in the producing process, not only me.
Why are there strings on only one track of the new album?
It has a lot do to with both money and time. It takes an incredible amount of time to
arrange the strings.
I think that “Evilized” is one of the best power/heavy metal albums this
year and it is going to be vary hard to beat it. How do you comment on that?
I thank you a lot for that.
Why are you opening act to HammerFall?
It was partly because we know HammerFall, and it was also a good chance to launch Dream
Evil in front of a big audience. The launching has paid off: before we went on tour we
had about 400 people that visited our website per day, during the tour the amount of
visitors have increased a lot, now it’s about 8000 visitors per day.
How do the new songs work live?
In the beginning of the tour we started out with three new songs, but the audience
wanted to hear songs from the debut. So, we listen to them and now we only play two songs
from “Evilized.”
Which gig has been the best during the tour?
The best shows were in Berlin, Germany and in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Are Dream Evil going to tour some more when this HammerFall tour is over? When can
we expect to see you as a headliner act?
It depends on if the record goes well commercially, and we hope to do some festival
gigs this summer. We would like to do some more touring.
Is there something you would like to say to the fans out there? The word is yours..
Everyone in the band likes to go out and meet the audience after we've played.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.
Thanks to you Anders.