Customer Reviews

Anima Mundi

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album kicks off right from the beginning, with the powerful song "Devine". This really sets the standard for the rest of the album, with fast double-bass drums, kick-ass guitarsolos and very good vocals from Olaf Hayer. He shows more of his vocal range and skills than on the "Sign of Truth" album. Unlike the first reviewer I find the song "Paradise Land" a great song in a class of it's own. (Very much like "Key Into the Past" for anyone who's heard that one) "Forever More" is an amazing powerballad, and the two slow-beat songs "Bringer of War" and "March for Freedom" are very powerful and anthemic.

Overall this is a very strong album and truly shows what a great band this is. It is filled with all the ingredients powermetal should have, but very carefully put together. So even though you can hear the powerful vocals, melodic guitarsolos and thunderus drums, they don't overdo it, like many others do. And this make this a very complete album from a very complete band!

Olaf Hayer's vocals lead this excellent cd of true power metal! Better song writing improves over their very good debut. Anyone who enjoys power metal will love this cd!

If you're looking for power metal, THIS is a great choice! Magnificent songs with fast guitar solos, catchy melodies and powerful high vocals.
Do NOT miss this power-gem.

Note: I decided to update this review because some people like to nick-pick over every detail I write, and that's all I'm gonna say. Note this review was originally done in a 10 minute block of time, between classes, hence the mistakes.

After Dionysus' awesome debut in the form of 2002's "Sign of Truth" (which me and my friend listened to for months and months on end), I was looking forward to this release quite eagerly, especially after hearing the sound clip of the title track "Anima Mundi" that was available on the band's website. Unfortunately, most of the final product was far from what I was expecting in the end.

Starting with more positive notes, singer Olaf Hayer's voice has definitely improved and his voice is now used in different varying styles (check out his rougher, edgy sounding voice in Divine - awesome!) This release is also more varied idea wise and musically than their debut was (and I honestly commend that), but is why I think maybe I'm having such difficulty liking this album more than I currently do.

Another reason I may feel this way is this album contains more slower and mid-tempo songs, and though Dionysus isn't a pure speed metal band, maybe I think that subconsciously due the amount of faster songs that appeared on the debut (even though I do like my share of slow and mid-tempo songs, mind you!)

The above is only reinforced by the fact the only songs I personally found I liked were Anima Mundi, Closer to the Sun, and Divine - all the fast ones. I found the slower songs, such as Bringer of War (co-written by Hammerfall's singer Joacim Cans) and the supposedly "hymn-like" March for Freedom extremely boring and repetitive. The ballad-like songs What? and My Heart is Crying were some of the worst written songs (which I had mistakenly refered to as ballads) I have heard in recent metal release history (unlike the ballad Don't Forget off of Sign of Truth - which is freaking great!) To top this off, the band revived the song "Paradise Land" - the worst song off their 2001 demo - as the closing track - yuck!

In the end, this isn't horrible CD - but it isn't near good enough to what I consider I "must buy" metal release like Sign of Truth was. Fans of this genre and are interested in Dionysus should really buy the debut before buying this - you'll be doing yourself a grave injustice by doing so.