More Teutonic dark metal from in the form of Basilisk, from Southern Germany, who have been around since the late 90's with a few prior releases. They shouldn't be confused with other bands by the same name in the Black Metal genre as I know there are a few of them out there. This band isn't Black Metal, but some kind of dark, progressive, sorta gothic at times metal. Basilisk's lineup consists of Rudy- guitar & vocals; Tommy- keyboards & vocals; Frank - bass & vocals, and Ry- drums. Songs are in English and German, and you can almost figure out which is which from the track titles before you even listen. One of these guys sings melodically, and the other in that gruff and growly death metal voice. Interesting contrast. The guitar is typical metal, but the keyboards add a nice prog-gothy touch. In places I'm getting shades of Deep Purple (especially on "Schattenreich"), obviously due to the keyboard work. In fact, it's Tommy's keys that save this from being just another dark metal band. Calling the album by its English translation, 'Dreamland', I find the the dreams of Basilisk are pretty dark and doomy, even when the guy with the melodic voice is singing. The band comes on strong with "My Dying World", and although the opener is a bit of a mess musically, they manage to get your attention, if for nothing else but thinking "what metal genre does this really fall into?" They do manage to get it together for the kitchy-spooky "Schattenreich", a rabid rocker that would play well on Halloween with its doomy chimes and gothy keyboard parts. "A Man's Last Stand" has a hint of Black Sabbath to it, starting out strong but then meanders before it gets its groove back on the chorus near the end. By now it's time for the obligatory power ballad, which is the title track "Traumland" and I feel like I'm listening to the German equivalent of Spinal Tap. Oh boy. I'm almost glad the lyrics aren't in English, and you might just want to hit the skip button on this one. "Verstanden" sounds like several different songs wandering in aimless directions, getting by more on atmosphere than content. "Ships Under Black Flag" (the pirate number) has nary a yo-ho-ho or arrggh matey in it and the lack of much memorable except the keyboard riff sends it straight to Davey Jones' Locker. "Die Zeit" is mostly sturm und drang fury signifying...not much. "Love Hates Me" sounded promising from the intricate instrumental opening but mediocre songwriting sabotages this one in spite of the excellent musicianship. "Delirium" delves into the goth-industrial with chopped staccato guitar and those growly vocals really work here, but it would have worked better with a more martial rather than rock beat. The chorus with the clear vocals just doesn't make it at all. "Dreary Angels" is of similar ilk, except with glockenspiel over the top. The chorus is slightly better than the preceding track, but not by much. It does have a nifty Middle Eastern inspired keyboard break though. By this time a pattern is starting to emerge - put forth a great idea to start, then blow it on the chorus. For the life of me, I can't figure out why. Accept the first thing that comes along? I dunno. The next track, "Illusions of Myself" suffers similarly. Perhaps the best idea Basilisk had was to cover Falco's "Out of the Dark". This could easily be the top song on the album, and given the metal treatment while remaining somewhat faithful to the original, the song gets the power it really deserves. Gee, if only the band could have written more material themselves on this level, they'd have had a great album. Closing with "Der Pakt", a medieval-themed number still in metal mode, it at least makes you feel like you got your money's worth in the variety department. While not a bad album, 'Traumland' has enough issues in the songwriting to keep it from becoming a really good album. Still, a worthwhile listen for a few tracks, and maybe that's all you can hope for in a German metal band of any stripe these days.