IMPERIUM – Dreamhunter (2016)
IMPERIUM is the solo project of Strike’s drummer Mika Brushane from Finland. Mika is a well-known musician that played in many bands/projects and composed songs for different genres and this legacy of mixed genres can be heard in the new IMPERIUM album entitled “Dreamhunter” released today, March 18th.
First of all, read this carefully; although the cover art suggests a metal album and darker sounds, “Dreamhunter” is all about melody, always revolving around classic hard rock and even slices of AOR.
Most songs have indeed a melodic hard rock skeleton in the Scandinavian vein, with an edgy guitar line here and there, but all comes adorned with a great amount of keyboards.
So it’s not strange that “Dreamhunter” is being released by AOR Heaven Records…
Being said that, Eighties hard rock apparently is the biggest influence in Mika Brushane’s heart, and you can tell that listening Imperium.
‘Dreamhunter’, the title trac, kicks-off the CD and it’s simply melodic hard rock paradise; a fast-paced rocker with an ’80s vibe in it and passionate vocals that grabs you and leaves you hungry for more.
“Heaven Is Falling” is yet another late ’80s styled melodic gem. It features a stunning up-tempo melody, crunchy guitars and the necessary ‘sweet’ chorus line to sing-a-long for days
‘Always Forever’ has the Scandi magic in it while in ‘There Will Be Light’ the band delivers a ‘heavier’ song that features great arrangements, clever keys and a superb melody. For sure one of the album’s highlights.
If you have a doubt about the sound on this album, there’s a track called ’80’s Love Song (a.k.a. Angel Eyes)’ … the lyrics doesn’t take itself seriously, but perfectly captures the particular sound from back in the days when there was a huge ballad on every great rock album.
Then you got the American Melodic Hard flavored ‘Starlight’, which seems made for big arenas.
For “Dreamhunter”, Mika achieved to gather many renowned musicians from the Finish scene and the result is this brilliant record. There’s three vocalists (all really good) and tons of guitarists providing the riffs & solos, Mika handled himself drums, bass & keyboards.
The album’s post production was mixed by Erkka Korhonen (AORsters greats Urban Tale, Northern Kings, Ari Koivunen) and mastered by the legendary Mika Jussila (Nightwish, Stratovarius, HIM etc.), so expect a polished sound.
Solid as a ‘real’ band, Imperium’s “Dreamhunter” is a really, really good Melodic Hard Rock album with a Scandi touch which is going to please every fan of this genre out there.
HIGHLY Recommended
01 – Dreamhunter
02 – Heaven Is Falling
03 – Wasted Years
04 – Always Forever
05 – Fire & Ice
06 – There Will Be Light
07 – 80’s Love Song (a.k.a. Angel Eyes)
08 – Reach For The Stars
09 – Starlight
10 – Victory
11 – Finem Vocationem
Mika Brushane – drums, bass, keyboards and backing vocals
guest stars:
Markku Kuikka – Lead Vocals on 1,3,4,5,6,8
Nisse Nordling – Lead Vocals on 2
Pasi Rantanen – Lead Vocals on on 7,9,10
Pasi Rantanen – Vocals & guitars (Thunderstone, Strike)
Markku Kuikka – Vocals & guitars (Kenziner)
Nisse Nordling – Vocals (ex-Dreamtale)
Samuli Federley – Guitars (Standing Ovation)
Toni Huovinen – Guitars (Sentiment)
Ade Manninen – Guitars (Androids)
Jami Houvinenen – Keyboard solo on 11
BUY IT !
www.aorheaven.com/index.php/englisch_b/imperium-dreamhunter.html
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