CD review / album review / CD Rezension / Album Kritik / Plattenkritik Treasure Land "Questions"

Short facts

german version

Treasure Land
"Questions"
1997, Modern Music Records

Zenny Gram - Lead vocals
Jonas Hörnqvist - Guitars, Backing vocals
Magnus Lind - Bass
Kaspar Dahlqvist - Keyboards and Hammond organs
Magnus Hörnqvist - Drums, Percussion, Backing vocals

• 1. The Gift (6:03)

• 2. Misery (5:35)

• 3. Why (7:22)

• 4. Demons (5:03)

• 5. To Live Again (3:01)

• 6. Miracle (6:07)

• 7. Spirits (4:21)

• 8. Kingdom (6:06)

• 9. Let The Rain (4:39)

What a smashing opening ... the first seconds of "The Gift" are beating your ears up with a riff-staccato like a nasty blow. Progressive Power Metal. Oops ... it's gone already ... a smooth intermezzo ... a keyboard transition ... hey and now again the riff-staccato ... a break with bass and keyboards ... a straigt metal-part ... then hurrying up the scale ... smooth vocals ... screaming aggressive vocals ... and now a guitar-solo par excellence reminding me of the time of the hundreds of Malmsteen-plagiarisms in the end-80s (but in a positive way). To describe this song is just ... a task for life. It seems that Treasure Land did their metal-homework since the glorious time of the mid-eighties. For several time in this album the wind of that great metal-time seems to blow again ... just to get wiped out again by great progressove parts.

"Misery" - no rest yet. A song with smooth parts reminding me (like some parts of other songs) of some Bruce Dickinson elements (i.e. "Balls to Picasso"). The bridge and the refrain are hammering crossover-like and suddenly we find ourselfes back in keyboards and melodic guitaraccords. And just as we suppose to snap for air a blues/jazz-like guitar-solo covers latino-american drums and just as we get used to this the refrain and it's guitar-staccato strikes us again.

After the great "Demons" our tortured (and enjoying) ears are caressed by the ballad (vocals + piano) "To live again". Seems that our feeling for rhythm and predicition of melody returns.... ;-)

"Miracle" is the hmyn of this album to me. A song for everyone. The Melodic, the Power-Progressive, the Mainstream-Progresive, the Rhythmical, the Variety-Psychic, the Mosher, the Jump-and-Bang-Arounder, the Guitar-Fetish, the Keyboard-Freak ... the Drum-freax are pleased all the time. Did I mention already that this is a top score album ? ;-)

The album continuous in the same pressuring, melodic, rhythmical-antirhythmical, progressive, straight, smooth, powerful, always surprising way. If you want to get a short impression of the album then try to listen to "The Gift", "Why" or "Miracle". Many of the guitar-soli can patch to Malmsteens fast fingers and the important thing: not only in speed ... also in the sequence of notes within the speed of the soli. And that's very, very hard to find.

And the rest of the songs keep this level !