Album Review: Allen/Olzon - Army Of Dreamers

You would think an artist making the exact change you suggested (not that I think they ever heard what I said - it was coincidence, I'm sure) would make you ecstatic, and be a guarantee of success. You would, but that's not quite how things work out. The first collaborative album from Russell Allen and Anette Olzon clocked in at #2 on my year-end list (although in hindsight it should have bene #3), and I only had one real nit to pick about it. For as great a melodic metal album as it was, I disliked the composition of the album as one-third Russell songs, one-third Anette songs, and one-third duets. The bits where they sung together were magical, and I couldn't understand why it wasn't put front and center all over the album.

That has been fixed for album number two. This record sees the two powerhouses sharing vocal duties throughout the record, finally sounding like a true duets album. It's such a simple choice to make, I'm left rather confused how the previous record was constructed the way it was.

When dealing with a Magnus Karlsson album, the results often rely on the singers. Regardless of the project he is writing for, the building blocks are always the same. He is a highly ocnsistent writer, but that sense of sameness works as a detriment as well. We know where the songs are going, and the melodies carry his trademark feeling. What separates one album from the next is the voice, and how well they are able to sell the hooks.

That is where this record shines, because Russell and Anette are two of the best at doing that. Their powerful voices, and the way they blend together, is something far more special than hearing Ronnie Romero trying to rasp his way through an ill-fitting melody, or an album where every song shifts tone with a new singer. This project has a unique sound to it, and like the original Allen/Lande albums that sparked this entire sub-sub-genre, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

As an album, this one is a different case than the debut. We are entertaining the question of highlights versus consistency. "Worlds Apart" had a handful of tracks that stand above anything on this record, specifically "What If I Live" and "Cold Inside". They were such gems it propelled the album near the top of my year-end list, even if the record itself was a big up-and-down. This record, by contrast, is a straight line of high quality. With Russell and Anette singing together in every song, the highs and lows are smoothed over, so we have to ask ourselves; is it better to have a handful of remarkable songs, or a whole album of nearly great ones?

That question has two different answers, depending on how we want to look at things. I think "Worlds Apart" will be more memorable, overall, because I can't get those few songs out of my head, even now. I still go back and listen to the highlights regularly, even if I seldom play the album in full. "Army Of Dreamers" is going to be the opposite, where I doubt I will repeatedly go back to the highlights, but I'm more likely to put on the whole album. It's a similar case to Anette's other band, The Dark Element, except in that instance, both ways of looking at things point me to the debut.

That's a long-winded way of saying "Army Of Dreamers" is an album that takes what was great about "Worlds Apart", and simply gives us more of it. Do I have some nits to pick with it? Sure I do, but they aren't important. I love melodic metal when it's done well, and this is done exceptionally well. It's the best album of this kind.... probably since the last one.