DANIEL PALMQVIST – A Landscape Made From Dreams

Daniel Palmqvist is a newcomer on the scene of guitar virtuosos to release an instrumental album. More interesting is the namedropping he is able to do on this debut with the musicians he gathered to accompany him. The guest musicians are from Tears Of Anger, Therion, Bruce Dickinson (the band, not his Lordship himself), Narnia, and Bob Rock. Those bands already hint at what sound one can expect: Neo-Classical, Progressive, Power Metal.

Daniel manages to distinguish himself from all those fast-fingered heroes that so often sound so much alike. His style is more heart and melody than double bass drums and races across the six strings. He claims that his influences, while loving the incredible Yngwie, lie more in the Jazz and Blues direction. You’ll tend to agree immediately after listening to the acoustic intro and the first few measures of “Devil’s Dance.” This is great Rock music with a gripping riff that carries the whole song effortlessly through its three-minute duration. It’s no surprise that Daniel Palmqvist also plays in a band with Pedestrians Of Blue vocalist Johannes Stole, and that he will have a guest appearance on their next release. The sound is quite similar, and he reaches out to the same emotions -– as have other Proggers before — just think of Pain Of Salvation by Germany’s Everon.

The album continues with melancholic melodies and simple, to-the-point arrangements where every note has its place. That may seem boring to some, and is at times not much of a Metal album, but it is quite effective. Here he reminds of Jim Matheos, the mastermind of Fates Warning, and that comparison should be praise to any guitarist out there. The next songs, “Moment Of Clarity,” and the highlight of the album, “If Things Were Different,” are the type of music to play on a winter evening in Sweden, when the snow falls and the fire crackles and ember Scotch is twinkling in your glass. There are a few more tunes on the album like this, which make this great music to relax to as a listener. It may be released in the wrong time of the year, but nevertheless this is best described with one word: Wonderful. It is difficult to differentiate between the tracks since they are so similar in style, but that makes most of the songs seem to be of one piece … and that is nothing bad.

Unfortunately, a few times Palmqvist changes the style and direction. “Carte Blanche” is a fast-paced double bass drum track that does not seem to fit on the album. It is not a bad song, but changes the mood so drastically that it seems foreign and makes you spill your drink. Also, it sounds very constructed, and lacks the feeling present in most of the other songs. “Truffle Shuffle” represents a similar strange detour. This is a fun in the sun track with a Jazzy backbone that could be done by the infamous Dave Lee Roth. One is tempted to check if somebody changed the CD in the player. And a last one that somehow does not belong is “Song For Pongo,” which apart from failing to transport the basic deeply emotional attitude of A Landscape Made From Deams, is trivial and below Daniel’s standard.

Those three tracks would not matter much were they not songs six, eight and ten, with two more great songs coming after that. It is a pity that Palmqvist wanted to show off too much, especially since the easy, Progressive tracks carry a mood much better without a voice than the other styles he tampered with.

All in all, this release makes one long for the up-coming Pedestrians Of Blue album since he is quite close to their style – they just do their thing with vocals. And, since it will take a while before fans can enjoy that one, A Landscape Made From Dreams is more than only a fill in, and will be a good album to listen to especially in November. Just make sure you program your player to skip tracks 6, 8, and 10!