Dreams in Fragments
Reflections of a Nightmare

We are seeing the reflections of a nightmare when dealing with the debut album of Swiss band Dreams in Fragments and just from the look of it I have to say that it is hard not to come to think of Nightwish. Similar type of name, logo and cover style and female fronted as well – comparisons are inevitable. But you could of course compare them to others as well, like Austrian band Edenbridge or Epica, Evenoire if you want to go for some beginning with an E. But looks is one thing and music can be different, debuts can be great but are often a bit ordinary and stylewise too cautious and that can be said about this album as well.

It is female fronted melodic metal with some operatic vocals, some more typical rock vocals, some growling too and that thought of comparison comes again. I think of bands like previously mentioned Nightwish, Epica, Edenbridge, Evenoire and you can add to that Delain, Operatika, Coronatus, Within Temptation and the list goes on. It is not exactly unique in terms of style, the songs feel very familiar and nothing really exciting from a creative perspective. The sound is good and vocals are quite good, so from that perspective they do well but the album feels a bit on the long side despite being only just over forty minutes. Perhaps that sensation of long playing time is due to the lack of fresh ideas and fresh songs, it feels a bit like déjà vu to listen to this album.

The album is rather decent, they do pretty well and I wouldn’t say that there aren’t any really weak songs on the album. The problem is that there aren’t any great songs either, it is an album that you can listen to but it isn’t very impressive. I think that they are too cautious and never really dare to think outside the box, something that makes this album a decent one but not a very impressive one. From the craftsmanship side I think they have done good but they need to create better and fresher songs if they want to make more of an impression and impress the fans because I think that many fans will find this album to be a bit bland and not really exciting enough to bother with.

It could be an album to watch if you are a fan of any or some of the bands mentioned in this review you might find that this album is a good one, but I have some doubts about that. It is a decent debut but they really need to start thinking a bit outside the box if they want to make more of an impression, this album will be lost among the multitude of albums released nowadays and it is probably better to find the listening pleasures elsewhere.

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