Reviews : Albums : Operatika, "Dreamworld"

Speedy power metal with operatic vocals should be a tag that immediately grabs my attention. After all, I was sort of brought into Deadtide to be one of the few who would review power/traditional metal, there being something of a glut at the time. Since then I've managed to touch on just about everything else in the metal kingdom, but in my heart I've still got a place for the power metal. From the first flurry of notes on this 4 song EP I knew what I was getting into. But then the singing started and I did a petite double take. Sometimes, two very different musical styles can be mashed together and come off sounding stronger for it; but in this case, there seemed to be a disconnection between the two styles. After several more listens, I finally narrowed it down to this: Slava Popova's voice sounds good during the chorus, and doing the background vocals, but when it comes to singing the verses, she tries to make it too operatic and it just doesn't always work. I mean, I get it, the name of the band should clue me in to what they're working toward, I just think that the tiniest bit of rock/metal influence on the verse vocals would make a world of difference.

The music isn't bad at all. Bill Visser on guitars/bass is an accomplished player with the lightening fast arpeggios that he's got down like butter, and the drummer (Yuri Liakhovitch) plays with the exuberance one would expect in a power metal project. Don't get me wrong about Slava Popova's voice... it's very pretty, and can be powerful. I just wish she'd step back from the operatic delivery once in a while. Speedy guitar abounds, especially on "Gladiator", and on this song Slava does in fact give the verses a slightly different feel, almost mooting my earlier criticisms.

Very nice promo pack with this, with a whole cd of pictures and bio information, very nice to be able to put faces with names. The cover artwork seems a bit amateurish, but also comes off as unapologetically DIY, so I guess it's neither here nor there. If you like your vocals operatic and your guitars speedy, look no further than Operatika's brand of power metal.

Standout Tracks    Gladiator

S.Gregory