Review of the Album "Dreamcrusher" by Finnish Melodic Death Metal Band "Naildown"

"Naildown" is a Finnish melodic death metal band that has been active since 2003 and these guys are pretty good! That sounds like a musical cliche because pretty much every single Finnish metal band is going to be at least good (with few exceptions). Their 2007 album called Dreamcrusher is an example of a death metal album with both rough vocals and clean vocals by guitarist and vocalist Daniel Freyburg.

The title track is a song about trying to cope with the situation of lost hopes and dreams. Sometimes even when we get a second chance at something it seems that life just slams the door in our faces. We can do the best we can to not allow life to crush our dreams and instead we must pursue these dreams. One example of such a dream if we can call it that would be something as simple as wanting to become a freelance writer. The song Judgement Ride with an excellent keyboard beginning is the song that got me into this album!

The next song Lame is one of the weaker songs in the album. It is about someone that has become a slave to their own life. He has become this way because he is engaging in self-destructive behavior. P.I.B. is a pretty heavy song and it has some early American death metal influence. The song is about what can happen to a person that has built up much rage in their body. In the middle of the song, there is an Annihilator influence as well. Thank you Jeff Waters for influencing these guys!

The next song called Silent Fall has the influence of US band Cynic. The song called Like I’d Care has some interesting sounds in it and it also has vocals that resemble Finnish Gothic metal band To/Die/For.

Next comes the song Deep Under the Stones which is mixed with atmospheric keyboards and guitar. Then the guitar speeds up and sounds like the Finnish melodic death metal band Norther. Then we hear the neoclassical guitar influence and I’d like to use the term shredding guitar, something that Jason Becker and Marty Friedman made more popular in the 1980’s. Even the band Dark Moor would be proud of this if they heard this kind of musical artistry present in the song as they do a terrific keyboard presentation. I’ll give this song a 9 points out of 10!

The song called Save Your Breath is about rejecting those people that act like hypocrites and liars. We should save our breath, time, and energy for those people that really appreciate what we do for them. Overall, Dreamcrusher is a pretty darn good melodic death metal album with good keyboard use and there is variety in the vocals. However, it is just one step below an elite melodic metal album and these guys do a good job!