Heavy metal will never die. But every now and then, it needs a fresh injection of passion, purity, and pomp, just in case. Returning with a new album after seven years of studio silence, DREAM EVIL are obviously the right men for the job. They are Metal Gods, and they will reign supreme.
Formed at the tail-end of the ‘90s by esteemed metal producer Fredrik Nordström and six-string virtuoso Gus G. (FIREWIND/OZZY OSBOURNE), DREAM EVIL smashed their way into the power metal boom of the early 21st century. Armed with songs that celebrated the greats of the genre while adding a healthy dose of contemporary electricity, they released their debut album Dragonslayer in 2002 and became an instant hit with fans of thunderous, melodic metal. Refusing to sit around and wait for creativity to happen, DREAM EVIL put their noses to the grindstone, delivering two more studio albums – Evilized (2003) and the larger-than-life The Book Of Heavy Metal (2004) – which cemented the band’s reputation as one of modern heavy metal’s most explosive and classic-sounding bands. Led by the powerhouse vocals of Niklas Isfeldt, they survived the departure of Gus G. in 2004, made a fourth album – the majestic United (2006) – and continued to thrill their diehard fan base with glorious anthems and overblown, celebratory live shows, both as support to the likes of SAXON and HAMMERFALL, and as a potent and vital headlining act in their own right.
Although less prolific over the following years, DREAM EVIL have remained a reliable benchmark for doing this heavy metal thing properly. Both 2010’s In The Night and its long-awaited follow-up SIX (2017) kept the flame blazing, but the band has been oddly quiet over the last few years, occasional tours aside. The good news is that DREAM EVIL are back, and more metal than ever. Pieced together over the last few years, the new album Metal Gods is a comeback of epic, none-more-metal proportions.
“We didn’t really disappear; we have just been lazy!” laughs Nordström. “We were like, ‘We have to do an album!’ That had been the plan for a long time. It’s been a long time. Mainly because we were all busy, to be honest. We have so many children between us in the band, and it’s hard to find time to get stuff together. We started work on a new album several years ago. We just wanted to make a better album than the previous one. Everybody in the band felt the same. It was simple, really. We just tried to make Metal Gods the best DREAM EVIL album yet!”
While some bands try to understate their devotion to heavy metal, DREAM EVIL remain passionate advocates for the entire genre. Metal Gods is exactly the kind of triumphant, balls-out metal record that the world needs right now. Bulging with exhilarating anthems and moments of musical bravado, the band’s seventh studio record sounds like a million dollars and delivers the goods with a proud flourish. From the fiendishly catchy likes of "Metal Gods" , "The Tyrant Dies At Dawn", and "Fight In The Night" to darker, more dramatic tunes like "Chosen Force" and album closer "Y.A.N.A.", Metal Gods is close in spirit to the euphoric metal worship of Dragonslayer and Evilized, but with sharper songwriting and a huge sound that virtually leaps from the speakers. Still more metal than just about everybody else, DREAM EVIL are a band on fire, and Metal Gods is a colossal inferno of leather, studs, and steel.
“We always try to have some variation on the albums,” says Nordström. “We write the songs that we write. I’m really happy about this one, and we didn’t feel that with the previous album, for various reasons. This time, it felt like it would be fun again. This album has a theme of fighting. Dragonslayer was about dragons, and most of the other albums have been about metal, but this one is about fighting, and every song is about a battle of some kind, for some reason! Maybe because our bass player has been writing a lot of the lyrics, and he’s a big IRON MAIDEN fan, and they’ve written a lot of songs about the same thing.”
Created by the enduring line-up of Isfeldt, Nordström, bassist Peter Stålfors, and lead guitarist Markus Fristedt, plus latest recruit, drummer Sören Fardvik, Metal Gods represents a complete reset and a return to active service for the Swedish legends. Brimming with energy and almost creaking under the weight of its many magnificent melodies and riffs, it promises to reintroduce DREAM EVIL to the world and propel them back to the forefront of the heavy metal scene where they belong.
Nordström is eager to point out that DREAM EVIL was not conceived as a full-time band and that their intermittent efforts have often been difficult to achieve, not least due to his own work as one of metal’s best-regarded studio gurus. In contrast, Metal Gods sounds like an album made by musicians on a mission, driven by honest enthusiasm and a profound love for the heavy metal ethos. Looking back, Nordström notes that DREAM EVIL haven’t been as productive as they would have liked over the last two decades, but that Metal Gods is the big, ballsy antidote: an album made by true friends, aimed squarely at the metal faithful.
“We did three albums in 2002, 2003, and 2004, and then we’ve been the laziest band on the moon since then,” Nordström admits. “But the last ten years have actually been pretty good. The band has never gone backwards money-wise, so we can go on tour, pay for everything and have some money left over. But it’s still just a hobby! A band is like a fucking marriage, with four other guys that you don’t have sex with. Every time we see each other now it’s always fun and we have a good time together, but if we had been full-time musicians, we would probably hate each other by now! [laughs]”
As they return with a new album and a fresh perspective, DREAM EVIL are newly committed to taking Metal Gods to the masses as soon as possible. Guaranteed to have audiences banging their heads and screaming themselves hoarse, the new songs will fit perfectly with the highlights of the band’s catalogue to date, as Nordström and his comrades hit the road later in 2024, with their most extravagant stage show to date. When the world needs heavy metal, DREAM EVIL delivers it. It’s that simple.
“I think we’ll do Australia and Japan, and maybe some European dates. We’ve never played in France or Italy, so maybe it’s time to do that too. It feels different this time, for sure. We have set up a lot of rehearsal dates, which we’ve never done before, so yeah, we’re more ambitious now, absolutely. We won’t necessarily be going out and playing our asses off for months at a time, but when we do play, we want it to be as great as possible. It’s the friendship that we have in the band that makes it special. Everybody has different opinions, but we don’t care about that. We’re here for the music. We’re here for the metal!”
Line-Up:
• Fredrik Nordström – Lead Rhythm Guitars
• Niklas Isfeldt – Lead Vocals
• Peter Stålfors – Lead Bass
• Markus Fristedt – Lead Lead Guitar
• Sören Fardvik – Lead Drums
Having heard this metal monster we had to catch up with bassist Peter to talk about the album and what Dream Evil have planned.
Believe it or not there are people who still don’t know who Dream Evil are. For the uninitiated it would be cool to talk about how Dream Evil formed etc.
it was back in 1999 that Dream Evil was formed by producer Frederik Nordstrom. An unusual thing that. A producer forming a band?
Was it because he had a metal sound in his head and needed a band to make it come alive? Smart move!
Well, Fredrik told me that if all those other bands could get a record deal and tour the world, why shouldn’t he? So, when meeting Gus in Greece in 1999 he got the idea that they both could form a band together with some local musicians from Gothenburg. And as Fredrik knew me and Niklas from earlier recordings he did with Hammerfall (me and Niklas sang backing vocals) we were asked to try out.
It was certainly easy to get band members with the likes of Gus G and Snowy Shaw involved. Did forming a band go as smoothly as it seemed?
Well, Gus was in from the start but Snowy was just a hired gun in the beginning. It wasn’t until we released DragonSlayer in 2002 and did the first live shows he decided to join the band as a permanent member. Me and Niklas was permanent from the start.
Has the band been influenced by the musical backgrounds of the members and their own influences in terms of music?
Yes of course. We all have our influences from the Heavy Metal of the 1980’s so that’s where the influences comes from. We don’t have the same bands as main influences so that becomes a unique mix when putting it all together.
Since then there have been a few line up changes for various reasons?
Yes, Gus wanted to focus on his Firewind and it was a bit tough when he was living in Greece and the rest of us in Sweden. So when he left in 2004 Mark joined. Then in 2006 Snowy felt that he had done hos part in Dream Evil and wanted to focus on other things like his solo projects and other stuff and Pat who acuallty worked in Studio Fredman at that time was asked to join. When Mark got two kids just one year apart in 2007 he couldn’t combine his family life with the band so he left. We then tried out some local guitarists and got Dannee. Dannee is a great guitarist but we really don’t share the musical influences, he’s more into Finnish troll metal.. and he didn’t feel true playing the Dream Evil style of music so when he left in 2013 we checked with Mark again as his family situation would have changed at this time. And it had so he gladly joined the lineup again. Then in 2019 Pat felt that he didn’t want to play the drums any longer, he wanted to play the guitar again as he did in the past. So he left the band to start up a band of his own where he played the guitar. At a point, not long after Pat left, Sören recorded drums at Studio Fredman with his old band. Fredrik recognized his awesome skills and asked if we wanted to try out for Dream Evil. And here we are.
The Dream Evil sound and vibe has remained constant however. Was it hard to keep a sound that your fans love whilst also adapting to line up changes, musical fads and a need to progress as a band musically?
No not really, we’re still three original members who write music and Niklas voice is quite unique and sets the Dream Evil sound together with the rest of us and of course there is the awesome producing skills of Fredrik.
How do you feel Dream Evil has evolved since 1999 and your debut album “Dragonslayer”. (Released 2002)?
We’re older, maybe not so much more mature but more self-confident but we still have the humor and we have a lot of fun together as we always have had. The philosophy is that metal is fun, not serious.
It’s now 2024 and Dream Evil is celebrating its 25th birthday. How mind blowing is that?
Don’t talk about it… hahaha.. Well we’re getting older that’s a fact. That we’ve been around for almost 25 years is crazy, and we still love it!
Your new album “Metal Gods” is killer and a great way to celebrate. Is the name a nod to Judas Priest?
Thank you! It feels kind of obvoius, but actuallt it wasn’t anyone in Dream Evil that came up with this title. Robert Kukla (Fredriks studio neighbor) co-wrote the song Metal Gods with Jonathan Thorpenberg and us. Robert came up with the title and what was going through his mind when he came up with that can only he answer.
Tell us about the album. Who’s playing on this metal beast?
We are of course, but we brought in three solo guitarists as well for three songs. Fredrik and Mark talked about that and thought it was a great idea to get some other known guitarists to play solos on the album. Jonathan Thorpenberg and Roberg Kukla also co-wrote the song The tyrant Dies at Dawn with us so Jonathan was asked to play the guitar solo on this song. Then Chris Amott was asked to ply the guitar solo on Born in Hell and Tommy Johansson played the guitar solo on Masters of Arms.
How did recording go?
We planned to record the album through October 2023 so we did and Fredrik mixed and mastered it in november. And then we wanted to release the album shortly after that but our record label wanted to wait a bit so that is why it’s coming out now in July.
You’ve to do date released three singles from the album, the latest being “Fight in the Night “. What’s the song about?
Ha ha ha… you tell me.. That’s one lyric we wrote all together in the studio. We were having a blast doing this. The image we had in our heard was like a small girl filling up her boxing gloves with small stones so that she would knock the asses of some big strong guys.. The video didn’t go that way though…
What inspires you to keep making metal for 25 years?
FUN! We have a lot of fun together. Why stop having fun. It’s as easy as that.
On what do you draw from when writing songs? You seem to have quite a range in terms of tone and subject matter.
Song ideas comes from everywhere.. When you get the inspiration or maybe just sitting in your car driving and you have to stop by the side of the road just to sing your idea into your phone. Inspiration for lyrics can also come from everywhere, maybe a film you saw or something on the news or a documentary about a serial killer…
You’re taking the party on tour too including Australia! How’s it going?
This will be so great. I mean, that we have fans on the other side of the world and that they want us to come over there and to play our music feels amazing. We can’t wait to go!
What dates are coming up?
30.08. Eskilstuna (Sweden) - A Heavy Metal Summer Rock Shock
04.09. Atlanta (USA) - ProgPower USA XXIII
18.10. Gävle (Sweden) - Centralteatern
19.10. Sundsvall (Sweden) - Centralen
20.10. Stockholm (Sweden) - Biblioteket Live
25.10. Göteborg (Sweden) - Galej
26.10. Malmö (Sweden) - Plan B
31.10. Brisbane (Australia) - Soapbox Beer
01.11. Canberra (Australia) - The Baso
02.11. Sydney (Australia) - Marrickville Bowlo
04.11. Melbourne (Australia) - The Leadbeater
10.11. Perth (Australia) - Rosemount Hotel
What’s next for Dream Evil?
We just await the release of the album and have a blast doing the live shows ahead. Then we just take it as it comes. We’re in this for the fun of it, not as a full time job.
DREAM EVIL online:
• https://www.facebook.com/DreamEvilOfficial/
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