The Dream

This is another band my brother pushed on me. If over twenty years of listening to rock and metal has taught me anything, it's that it is predominantly male territory. I have well over a thousand cds, and if I have a dozen fronted by females, that's a lot. Through the years, a lot of females have tried to break in, and a few have made it, but usually it's either lighter rock or, since the success of Evanesence, a girl singing lightly over heavy music. It's rare that you get a girl that actually sings rock music with a good rock voice. Maria definitely fits that bill. She's got a terrific voice. The music remains heavy and uncompromising. If anything, there are a couple remnants of their death metal past on here that are too heavy -- and not because of the music! Her voice is as aggressive as any male I've heard, but I'll happily skip those one or two tracks, because the rest is so good. Her voice is just great. The multi-layered harmonies are fantastic and they are packaged up into some really good songs with great music and top-notch production. Their whole demented Alice in Wonderland theme is a nice touch too. If you like heavy music with a touch of a modern flair and really good singing, you have to check this one out. --Scott