VELVET THUNDER

Season Of Dreams is a relatively new band that was formed by the French multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jean-Michel Volz with the Swedish vocalist Johannes Nyberg and they released the debut album, My Shelter in 2020 so have followed it up very rapidly with the second release.

Volz is the guitarist with the French heavy rock band A Taste Of Freedom and Nyberg is, perhaps, better known as the vocalist and keyboard player with the Swedish power metal band Zonata. They formed Season Of Dreams to be a power/heavy metal band with a Swedish metal flavour but with the flair and audacity that French rock bands have brought to the music scene over the years. As with the first album, Volz plays guitars, keyboards, bass and drums and Johannes Nyberg is again on vocals and keyboards although his brother and guitarist has since moved on to other projects with no less than seven guest musicians being brought in to fill out the band’s sound. It’s a pretty decent team too, with Jimmy Hedlund (Falconer), Nils Courbaron (Sirenia/T.A.N.K.), Olivier Lapauze (Heavenly), Mikael Dahl (Crystal Eyes), Emil Norberg (Persuader/Savage Circus) and Martin Floberg (Enbound) all providing leads guitar and Kristoffer Göbel (Six Foot Six/Falconer) on vocals too. I was a touch critical on the debut as I thought it lacked that spark of magic and seemed to be music by numbers as well as the songs not bringing the best out of the voice of Nyberg so I was always curious as to what album number two would bring. Thankfully, the musicians seem to have grown closer and have a better understanding between them and the songs are stronger and more vital.

Volz again proves himself to be a most adept musician with the guests helping to bring a new dimension to the band and Nyberg does seem a lot more comfortable in front of the microphone. His voice does have a hint of a warble and this is more pronounced on some songs than others but he has plenty of power and a great range and is a great foil for some of the excellent guitar runs that permeates the songs. Lots of melody, hooks and vocal harmonies gives the music that Swedish metal touch allied with German power metal steel so you have a feel of Freedom Call, Stratovarius and even Manowar but, and it is a big but, the band is not yet in the same category of these metal giants. The track Heroes has been written as a tribute to medical staff everywhere for the amazing work that they have done in the fight against COVID which is a nice touch from the band.

There is still work to do but Season Of Dreams is heading in the right direction so it is going to be interesting watching the development.