The efficiency of a band's music. The un-betrayed passion for quality. The faith for the principles of Heavy Metal, the way many years before legends like Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest passed onto the few 90's U.S. Metal bands that had the guts - because you HAVE to have guts - to stay untouched by the Grunge/Nu/Alternative/Rap Metal cancer. If you have to pay the price, you'll suffer the consequences; at least, you won't be ashamed to declare you're playing American Heavy Metal music. I know that Jacobs Dream will never be as successful as many other wannabe Metal bands (don't make me write down names...) in America, still I have to bow before their never dying spirit, their indefatigable enthusiasm and their strong will.
Jacobs Dream started in 1994 as Iron Angel. As usual, another Metal band had already adopted this moniker - by the way, en excellent speed Metal outfit from Germany - so two years later the new name was Jacobs Dream. Based in Ohio, frontman David Taylor, guitarists Jon Noble and John Berry, bass player Patrik Depappe, keyboard player Paul Whitt and drummer Gary Holtzman released their first same titled demo which resulted in a triumphal record deal with the sponsor of U.S. Metal Metal Blade Records. For their debut - also same titled - album (2002) some internal lineup changes took place, but that didn't prevent the band from releasing an excellent effort, a strong argument that U.S. Metal music can be alive 'n' kickin'! We'll give notice further down to what influences the band was (and is) based on; let's just add that 2001's Theater Of War is in the same vein, bringing the band in the forefront of defenders for the actual American Metal music (Pantera and Slipknot, my ass...).
Jacobs Dream had a four year intermission; still they are now back with - first of all - a new singer: Chaz Bond (ex-Biogenesis) is the man behind the mic and - without trying to make any kind of comparison - I like him a little better. Just a little bit... His voice seems extra passionate to me, is certainly more deep and feels more conscious than David Taylor's. The rest is - thank God of Metal - the same; Drama Of The Ages is the album you, the real lover of the U.S. Metal sound, have been waiting for. For the unaware, Jacobs Dream is the band that - in my poor opinion - follows a path similar to after-Dissident Alliance (1994) Jag Panzer, continuing from the point where legendary bands like Crimson Glory, Heir Apparent (mostly, to my ears), Lethal or early Queensryche decided to stop (or chose a different path).
The lyricism of tracks like the same titled opener, the immediacy of Stand Or Fall, the latent melancholy of Forever Winter or At The Gates... Maturity into Metal, the way the - once beloved - Bellevue quintet filtered its Power Metal art via guitars and drums in their The Warning (1984) opus. Since mentioned, all musicians are in fine mood, there are some great guitar solos while the use of double bass drumming is extremely limited, as owed (you don't create imaginary battlefields this way, you most bands of the so called European Power Metal sub-genre). I was also impressed by the album's production; then I noticed that the band is behind the console and my pleasure was doubled.
I went to a classic Metal pub today, Jag Panzer's Shadow thief was fading out the time I walked in and Heir Apparent's Screaming was fading in the time I walked out. As soon as Drama To The Ages is officialy released - 02.05.2005 - I think the DJ will add an extra album to his CD collection for our delight. Like nothing's changed in years; like all this anti-music shit never happened...
Can't say anything more... Drama To The Ages is a killer, the case of a reason for all of us to hope for a better future in America's music. GRAB IT FAST!