SHAPED IN DREAMS is a musical project of composer/multi-instrumentalist Martin Matiasovic featuring international, renowned guest artists. The main motivation behind the project was establishing a creative outlet for the artist's restless urge to compose and thereby also present his eclectic, poly-stylistic vision of music mainly drawing inspiration from heavy, guitar oriented and classical music "Echoes of Eldren Deeds" contains nine tracks.

"A Vault Roamed by Memory" leads off the album. Light footsteps stop abruptly and then some beautiful lead guitar work comes in...it's very dark but ends with alluring piano notes and some light symphonic elements. It segues into "Fire Within." The bass guitar is very pronounced, and the harsh vocals unexpected. The song has an almost "pirate" metal sound and cadence, echoed in the guitar work. The mix of symphonic elements is noteworthy, but I think clean vocals might have worked better. "And Warmth Remained" features soft piano notes that don't really seem to lead anywhere, until about half-way through when a more traditional cadence develops.

"Mere Illusion" opens with a heavier and more aggressive sound. Once again, bass guitar notes dominate the landscape with the lead guitar part s taking second stage to them. The vocals...I really like a lot of harsh vocals, but these are not working for me. The instruments...clearly, they have mastered them, and they work quite well. "A Giant to Face" opens with some light symphonic elements, mixing in with acoustical guitars. I think I have figured out what is causing me difficulty here...it's a general lack of a good melody line. There are some here and there, but dissonance leads the way for the most part.

"Thrilled for the Brawl" opens with a heavy cadence and more of that strangeness that seems to abound on the album. I like the bass lead section near the center of the song. "At the Cavern of Sleep" features soft dual acoustical guitars that again don't really seem to be going anywhere, until the third guitar comes in and a vague structure develops. Like the piano song, it seems out of place on the album. "As Life Awakens" opens with soft clean guitars that develop into a nice melody. Clean female vocals are pretty, but just a bit off key here and there. At least it follows a fairly linear path throughout. By itself, it has a charming sound.

"Time Turned into Memory" closes the album. It features more of just piano notes that again don't seem to be going anywhere. This is a highly personal album, but where it fails me is in its general lack of direction. There is very little connectivity from song to song, and they often fail to establish a melody line. The harsh vocals are actually off-putting for me as well. This was overall a pretty strange album that just did not resonate with me at all.