Heavenly's Reviews
Dust To Dust (Average Rating: 9.66 out of 10)
Heavenly Melodic Speed Metal! (Rated this album with 8 out of 10)
Reviewed by
John. N
from Pittsburgh, PA USA
Yes, I know that was a really, really bad pun, but I couldn't resist the urge to start the review with it you know!Now to the music. I only really got interested into Heavenly recently when my friend bought their last CD "Sign of the Winner". While the CD didn't contain the best overall sounding production and despite that singer Ben Sotto reminded me of ex-Stratovarius singer Timo Kotipelto at certain times, I thought the CD was a real solid piece of metal all-around. The release of Dust to Dust really surprised me, as I had just got into Sign of the Winner. I don't know what I was expecting musically from Dust to Dust, maybe just some basic band progression and evolution in terms of overall performance and song writing. What I eventually heard when I bought it was far beyond my expectations. While I feel Sign of the Winner is the best of the band's three releases overall, this album does takes a huge step forward. The overall production is just perfect (listen to Sign of the Winner, then listen to Dust to Dust, and you will instantly know what I mean!). Singer Ben Sotto's voice has matured to the point and isn't used in a way here that endless comparisons to other singers and bands isn't as big of an issue as it once was (I think his vocal style is among one the most interesting in metal today, he can make his voice sound really smooth sounding and then turn around two seconds later and make it sound extremely creepy!) The main difference one will find on this album from the band's two previous releases is the "whoa" effect of the backing vocals. They are so powerful and just spectacular than ever before (I guess you could say "epic" sounding as well), almost to the point where Sotto's vocals seem second to the backing vocals! Kind of a scary thought isn't it, but Ben's voice does remain on top and, in the end, the effect it creates works very well. So it you like bands like Helloween, Stratovarius, Edguy, Gamma Ray, and even Nightwish (the song Lust for Life has a keyboard opener that reminds me of Nightwish oh so much!) give this CD and their previous work "Sign of the Winner" a look. This is easily one 2004's best metal releases along with Edguy's Hellfire Club (maybe along the new Nightwish album "Once"?) Best Songs: Evil, Lust for Life, Victory (Creature of the Night), and Keepers of the Earth.
Buy this album on Amazon at $14.99
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