Customer Reviews

Diamond Dreamer/Eternal Dark

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is what I call an forgotten band. It's pretty hard to find their records, or people who heard about 'em. Despite this , they're very good! From the early eighties, these are their 3rd and 4th album. Far from being an ordinary band, they sound very distinct. It's pure and true heavy metal. Extremely loud, "in your face" guitars, a real big voice from a powerful vocalist, melodic and heavy at the same time. In my opinion,"Diamond dreamer" is a little better. Begins with the exciting tune "Lady Lightning", followed by "Night Hunter", "Hot lovin" and you feel high voltage waves filling in your brain. There's a very beautiful ballad with tons of blasting guitars called "You're touchin me". An earth shaking tune called "Message from hell", then "You're all alone", "Get me rock'n'roll", "Lousy Lady", and the high rockin' title track. "Eternal Dark" is darker as it suggests, and the guitar sounds heavier on their tones, kind of...in the shadows. I strongly recomend this Cd's for those who aprecciates pure heavy rock, from a time that this kind of music had only on name: Heavy Metal.

I've been fascinated with Picture since I first saw their albums in a record shop in Madrid, Spain. I bought this double album Diamond Dreamer/Eternal Dark along with Every Story Needs Another Picture (to be reviewed at a later date).

I only listened to it once or twice but never enough to appreciate it. Recently I burned it to CD and have been listening to it over and over again. This is great heavy metal. Diamond Dreamer is a little rawer than Eternal Dark (which shows signs of leaning toward the hair metal camp). However, Eternal Dark is not quite there yet (hair metal-wise) and has some great playing on it.

There is a distinct difference between the two, though the styles are close. Schmoulik Avigal and Pete Lovell are both great singers. Jan Bechtum is my favorite here as guitar players go. The guys on Eternal Dark may be more technical and speedy in their playing, but I like Jan's old-school approach better and also Jan has more spirit, more feel and is what really gives Picture their sound.

If there is one thing wrong with this album, it is that many of the songs have the same tempo and beat from song to song, even comparing Diamond Dreamer to Eternal Dark. There are a few exceptions like the great ballad You're Touching Me, which breaks up pace a bit. Then again, these songs all rock and to tell the truth, I really don't find that consistent tempo to be much of a problem, even after listening to it at least twenty times. It is no different than many other music genres and actually fits in quite well with any metal releases of the era.

Overall, this is great stuff and I highly recommend Picture to anyone into good, old school metal. And, my hat's off to Rinus Vreugdenhil for sticking it out to the end. If you can find this album somewhere, you are in for a real treat.

PICTURE were a great band from 1980 through 1983. Diamond Dreamer and Eternal Dark being the two best efforts. This is the way metal or hard rock should sound. The production on these two LP'S is crisp and clean with Diamond Dreamer sounding a bit better. The producer is Pete Hinton from SAXON fame, you can't miss with this disc in your collection.

During the rise of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) in the 80's, Holland had its own rising star: Picture. Just like Saxon and Motörhead, Picture had its roots in an industrial environment. Perhaps that's the reason for the raw and unpolished sound of their first album Picture I.

Diamond Dreamer is a little more polished, but has the perfect combination of the sharp edge of this early heavy metal-genre and some good rock-songs. When you are interested in the roots of nowadays metal or just wanna listen to some good old rockin' metal-songs, you should try this third album Diamond Dreamer. And when you like it, do listen to the other albums as well!

To me this is one of the great forgotten Metal albums of the 80's. It's very traditional, classy stuff - another of the hundreds of bands spawned in Europe in the following of the NWOBHM. Simply, Picture were one of the best and "Diamond Dreamer" in particular (well, at least as far as I'm concerned) is a forgotten treasure.
The music in here, has a blue-collar earnestness and is not a million miles away from early Accept with a hint of Saxon (and Priest, of course) - but it's very genuine. Alias, Picture truly represents a sound common to a lot of other Dutch or Belgian bands from the era (Bodine, Killer...). I had borrowed the LP years ago and had never seen it again and just recently I tracked it down and got me an EX/EX copy. Yes!
Classy stuff for all those into pure, hard, Heavy Metal.

When the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) scene was dominating the metal world in the early `80s, there were several bands outside of the UK that took the emerging heavy metal sound and ran with it. Bands like Sortilege (France), Overdrive (Sweden), EF Band (Sweden) and Dutch metallers Picture all added to Europe's strong metal scene.

This 2001 collection includes Picture's third and fourth albums, 1982's Diamond Dreamer and 1983's Eternal Dark on one CD. It's a hefty collection of early `80s European heavy metal, and a great look at an underrated band. You can also see the change from the hard-hitting, Iron Maiden-inspired galloping metal of Diamond Dreamer to the more melodic and (somewhat) commercial-sounding Eternal Dark. Throughout both albums you'll hear some great guitar work, powerful vocals and pure metal energy.

If you're a fan of classic heavy metal along the lines of Overdrive, Grim Reaper, Mad Max, Mass, and of course Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Accept, you have to check out Picture, and this 2-on-1 is the perfect place to start. Unfortunately it's out of print and something of a beast to find. It's worth the effort though!

I have three lp's from them. Heavy Metal Ears, Diamond Dreamer, and Eternal Dark. All have been played about 3 -4 times. All stored in a safe place in protective covers. Anyone know what they are worth? I wish I could get them burned to a cd so I could have them forever. If anyone has any info for me or where I can get their other releases, please email me. thanks!

ljs024@aol.com