A Review of the Album Human Device by Spanish Power Metal Band Dreamaker

Dreamaker is another one of those bands that will be forgotten but they deserve at least one more analysis and review. Their 2004 debut album called Human Device captured my interest not only because I had heard their song Without Angels years ago but Elisa C. Martin is one of those vocalists in the heavy metal genre that I have always admired and respected beyond what words could say. This album starts with the instrumental song called Dream Machines. It is very common for many bands to start out an album with classically influenced instrumental songs. Human Device is an album that I could classify as heavy industrial power metal and the sound of the second song “The Eye of War.” The guitars sound very crunchy but the tone is better than bands such as Rhapsody of Fire.

The song lyrically is about someone that is in the war zone and he or she is running through and witnessing the horrors that result. When a person is in this kind of situation, their survival is very much up in the air. Even though some of the riffing is similar to the time when Elisa was in Dark Moor, this song cannot compare to that era. But for what it is, this is a decent song to start off Dreamaker's debut. War has unfortunately been a part of the human existence for far too long and the album's title might as well be trying to describe the flaws of the human condition. Is Human Device a better album than Enclosed? I cannot say that for sure. Neither of these two albums are of the brilliant quality but they are respectable enough, even for Spanish power metal.

Nightmares Factory is a song that pretty much describes a situation that happens when someone has a nightmare at night where a certain creature is chasing them. A nightmare is different from sleep paralysis though. If there is one flaw to this album, it is that the riffing structure and tone is a bit too similar and this can be redundant musically at times. Now let us describe what may be the best song in this album and that one is called Without Angels. The song is about someone that is despondent and in desperate need of help from angels. She is lost and looking for help but she does not want to need their help even though she is convinced that only the angels can help her in this time of need. The next song Killing is definitely similar in the riffing style and melodies to early Dark Moor which would be in the period 2000 through 2002. The melody in this song is fine but it is just that it is not good enough to be considered a wow kind of moment. That's okay because so far, we have heard a decent debut from a band that most people in the Western world are not familiar with.

Forever in Your Arms represents a major slow down to this album and this love ballad is a sort of welcome relief to those of us that need a break but it seems like a ballad, until unexpectedly the song gets heavier. Welcome to My Hell is a song that lyrically tells the story of a person that is not afraid to face the ultimate evil force which is the devil or Hell. The neoclassical Dark Moor influence is definitely present here but as usual, this music is not as good as those years and it is very hard for Dreamaker to duplicate that level of musicianship and creativity. Humans are not devices in the literal sense but they are living beings just like other animals are. Eternal Love is a song that describes the situation that as humans, we will not be able to live forever or to love someone forever. In her search for immortality, the woman described in the song is constantly looking for answers even if she knows that she will not live forever. Is there such a thing as eternal love? I know that Elisa makes a mistake in the song Without Angels when she says “they doesn't help me anymore” but the song has a powerful human element to it and this is definitely one of the best songs in the career of Dreamaker. Crystaline Eyes sounds like the band Fairyland when Elisa was a member of the band back in 2003. Overall, after the first full listen through the album I rate Human Device at around 80% if we use the percentage rating which is still very good for this band even if it is not quite an elite power metal release.