Luca Turilli's Dreamquest - Lost Horizons
CD Info
2006
Magic Circle Music
13 Tracks
English lyrics
Luca Turilli's Dreamquest is a lightly electronic symphonic power metal band from Italy and this is their first disc. Dreamquest is a side project of Luca Turilli, the guitarist for the power metal band Rhapsody of Fire. He plays keys rather than the guitar on Dreamquest, and the style is quite different than the speedier neo-classical power metal of Rhapsody of Fire. Indeed, Lost Horizons sounds very much like a catchier, somewhat less metal and more electronic version of After Forever / Decipher. The songs are primarily keyboard-driven with heavy backing guitars and occasional electronic touches; like Decipher, they are extremely epic, lush, upbeat and choral, with majestic keyboard melodies and rocking power metal riffs throughout. Overall the song-writing is more straightforward than Decipher, but Dreamquest is pervasively uplifting and exhilarating with exquisite melodies and very hooky riffs in just about every song.
Their female vocalist, only identified as "Myst" in the CD credits, is absolutely extraordinary. Though she has a broad range of singing styles, she is primarily a soaring soprano with a tone and delivery very similar to Floor Jansen (indeed, early speculation was that Myst was Floor Jansen but this turned out not to be true; the best speculation seems to be that Myst is actually Bridget Fogle, a singer on Luca Turilli / The Infinite Wonders of Creation; indeed, she is listed as the Dreamquest vocalist on their MySpace page although Luca refuses to confirm this). Myst is unbelievably musical and expressive; her soprano voice is strong and confident with a richness and beauty that is unsurpassed in my listening experience. Occasionally she sings operatically and occasionally slightly poppy, depending on the demands of the song. She is in large part the reason that Lost Horizons is so warm and lush and enthralling.
There is no question that Lost Horizons is somewhat formulaic and predictable, but it maintains an incredibly inspiring, uplifting and infectiously enthusiastic atmosphere throughout. It is challenging to communicate such positive emotions genuinely in metal without sounding silly or contrived, and the landscape is littered with failed attempts in the "happy power metal" genre. Lost Horizons is a stunning success in this regard and should be the standard for others who strive to play really optimistic power metal.
For more information visit the band’s pages http://www.myspace.com/lucaturillisdreamquest or http://www.epic-metal.com/dreamquest2006
8.5 / 10
