In the Night

In the Night is the fifth album, on which Dream Evil sound traditional heavy metal's thick riffs, heroic choruses and hot singing head-on. Released in 2010, four years after the last record. Easy hooks and hard-nosed rhythm bind together, letting you re-confirm classic metal's fun in a contemporary sound. Fredrik Nordström, Niklas Isfeldt and Peter Stålfors — the three constants since the formation — remain at the center. Dannee Demon joined on guitar and Pat Power continued on drums. Nordström was extremely busy in his main job as a celebrated producer, so the gaps between records inevitably widened. Rather than complexity, this is a record for enjoying the straight-ahead force of riffs and choruses that make you raise a fist. From the opener “Immortal” to the title track, “Bang Your Head,” “See the Light,” “Electric,” “Frostbite” and “Mean Machine,” through to the closing “The Unchosen One,” there are twelve songs. The stance of treating vampires and trolls with total seriousness — yet somehow gleefully — is intact. A record for when you want to give yourself over to metal's formal beauty without overthinking.