DYECREST – This Is My World

Back in 2003, the Finnish band Dyecast won the Young Metal Gods Competition, which would be the breakthrough for the band that later was to be named “Dyecrest.” Now, after playing together for over ten years, the band has released the album This is my World, and by the looks of the freaked out person on the album cover, and by the lyrics, Dyecrests’ world seems pretty sad and angry. Seemingly, just angry enough to qualify them to join W.A.S.P. on their European tour last year. So, if you think you’ve heard of Dyecrest or their music before, it just might have been at a W.A.S.P. concert.

Dyecrests’ music or profile, on the other hand, cannot be confused with W.A.S.P. — it’s more likely to be compared with Helloween or Queensrÿche. For this album, they changed out their long time member and singer Janne Oksanen with the talented Kimmo Blom.

Kimmo Blom might be known by lovers of Finnish Prog Rock for being the front man of Urban Tale.

Well, it seems Dyecrest made a really good choice by picking Blom as their new lead singer. Having gotten rave reviews from the international press for their debut album The Way of Pain, the band is sure to get even better reviews for this second release. Not only is the sound and production total better, almost every song has hit potential. Already you can hear the album’s first single, “Fight Fear With Fire,” all around on different Metal Radio/TV Programs. Most of these songs have really catchy choruses — not to be mistaken for the sticky Styx or Journey kind of catchy choruses — instead these choruses take some of the old and mix it up with the new and put in hard core Jørn Lande or Geoff Tate elements — pairing those high screamy tones with louder, rawer ones. Check out “Rush of Life” and you’ll get the idea. Maybe a bit too inventive on the backing vocals during most tracks, but then again, Blom on main vocals almost makes you forget about that.

Other than the clear hit “Fight Fear With Fire,” “Dream of Crown” and “Took My Will To Feel” have to be mentioned. In “Dream of Crown,” Kimmo Blom really gets to show off, and he almost has that ”Latino Gang” sound of Suicidal Tendencies and other California gangster bands within some of the lyrics. On the beautiful “Took My Will To Feel,” he’s like a totally different person. This is the only ballad on this ten-track album … a song with enough feelings both in the vocals and guitars that when Kimmo sings “Remember the night when you took my will to feel,” he can make the toughest man want to shed a tear.

The rest of the band has a major impact on the music too. Most of the lyrics were written by drummer Niko Takala, and Dyecrest has three fantastic guitar players in Matti Pasanen, Henri Arola, and Pirkka (yes, that’s a typical Finnish name!) Ohlis. The bass on this album is also very vivid and tough within a few of these tracks, especially their hit “Fight Fear With Fire.”

Dyecrest really has nailed a broad audience with this one, and it would be very surprising to not hear more from these Finnish Metal Gods in the impending future.