adg211288 Morning Dwell (2014) is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish power metal act Morning Dwell. The album came about after vocalist Petter Hjerpe decided to record a solo demo, Morning Dwell-Forever and ever Demo 2013 of material he'd written over the last decade as well as some new songs. Originally a just for fun thing aimed at family and friends Petter then decided to send the demo to a label which led to him signing, without a band, to Doolittle Group. The full band was then formed mostly by friends of Petter who he'd played music with over the years. Drummer-less, and unwilling to take on a dual vocalist/drummer role himself, Petter was then offered the drummer Alfred Fridhagen of the bands Golden Resurrection and ReinXeed to complete the line-up.

Petter's story, which dates back to his discovery of power metal at around age 14, tells me that this is a guy who loves his power metal and that shows on the debut album of Morning Dwell. The music on the album is like a tribute to the classic early bands of the genre and comparisons to German acts like Helloween and Gamma Ray are certainly justified. Morning Dwell features a largely pure power metal sound that never sways off this course except for the one real surprise on the album which is The Pirate Song, a folk-power metal track. This use of a folk influence also brings mind to Morning Dwell's countrymen Falconer although The Pirate Song is certainly a bit sillier than Falconer have ever been and with a name like that I can't help but think of Scottish act Alestorm as well. The Pirate Song is actually my least favourite track on Morning Dwell but it is refreshing to hear that there are other ideas present on the album.

Morning Dwell have a great debut release on their hands here. There's an undeniable clone factor to the music so it's not exactly innovative in any way, but it is delivered with good musicianship and passion so it's hard not to be quickly won over by it. The final track, a over ten minute job called The Story Never Ends is especially praiseworthy and at the end of the day Morning Dwell is a highly enjoyable classic sounding power metal release with plenty of energy, so a 4 star rating is very much fair.

81/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/morning-dwell-morning-dwell-t3484.html)