Dream Evil

Dream Evil is a heavy metal band from Sweden, assembled by producer Fredrik Nordström in 1999.

For the Dio album, see Dream Evil (album).

Dream Evil
Dream Evil at The Electric Ballroom in 2010
Background information
Origin	Gothenburg, Sweden
Genres	Heavy metal power metal speed metal
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Century Media
Website	www.dreamevil.se
Members	Fredrik Nordström Niklas Isfeldt Peter Stålfors Sir N Mark Black
Past members	Snowy Shaw Gus G Daniel Varghamne Jake E Tommy Larsson Pat Power

History

Producer Fredrik Nordström had the ambition of creating a power metal band of his own for a long time, but had difficulty finding anyone with musical ideals similar to his own. However, while on holiday in the Greek islands during the year of 1999, Nordström met the young guitarist Gus G (from Firewind). The musicians got along quite well, despite an age difference of over a decade. Plans for a band commenced - Gus had already been planning to relocate to Gothenburg, and upon his arrival he looked up Fredrik at Studio Fredman to begin writing.

The first person asked to join the new band was Snowy Shaw (from King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and Notre Dame), but the drummer initially refused their invitation. He would later change his mind and agreed to play on the band's debut album in a session capacity.

Vocalist Niklas Isfeldt had done backing vocals for some of HammerFall's songs produced by Nordström, and since he was not involved in any major projects at the time, he agreed to take the position. He also brought along his longtime friend and Pure-X bandmate Peter Stålfors, who assumed bass guitar duties.

Up until the moment the first promotional photos were shot, the entire band had never been in the same place at the same time before. Some members did not even know each other.

The band soon got a deal with Century Media Records, and intended to name themselves Dragonslayer due to the medieval and fantastical themes of the songs written by Gus and Nordström. The label did not find the name original enough, and thus the band settled for the name Dream Evil, inspired by the Dio album of the same name.

Dream Evil's debut album was released in April 2002, and received positive feedback from the metal press. At one point the album, titled Dragonslayer, reached number one on the Japanese import charts. The band proceeded to play a series of festivals, and also supported Blind Guardian during a part of their world tour.

The band members found that they got along well as a unit, despite the somewhat random manner by which they had been brought together - Snowy Shaw decided to join the band permanently, and Dream Evil went on their first Japanese tour. During their stay in Japan, the band was invited by HammerFall to support their 2003 European tour. Their label manager hinted that it would be a good idea to have a new album out by then.

With little time on their hands, the band wrote the basis of several songs on the flight back to Europe, and on the day of their arrival entered the studio in order to record a new album. They took two weeks in total to record Evilized, and most songs were recorded as they had been written. It was released on 20 January, and one week later Dream Evil proceeded to tour Europe with HammerFall and the less known Masterplan.

For their third album, the band actually took time to write the songs and fine-tune them in the studio. The Book of Heavy Metal took two months to be recorded, and was released in May 2004.

Guitarist Gus G left the band in late 2004 in order to dedicate more time to Firewind, being replaced by Mark Black (then known as Mark U Black). Black had previously filled in for Gus on a few other occasions and replaced him permanently on their tour as support act for Saxon.[1]

Niklas Isfeldt and Peter Stålfors briefly left in 2005 to be replaced by Jake E. Berg (aka Jake Steel, of Dreamland) and Tommy Larsson. However, a few months later, Niklas and Pater returned before recordings or live shows were done.[2] At the start of 2006, Snowy Shaw abruptly quit Dream Evil. After a period of silence for several months, Dream Evil announced Pat Power (Patrik Jerksten), a co-worker of Fredrik Nordström from Studio Fredman, as Snowy's replacement.

The first album featuring the new line-up, United, was released on October 13, 2006.

Dream Evil announced on December 7, 2007 on the website that Mark Black would be leaving the band and will be replaced by Daniel Varghamne aka Dannee Demon.

On March 3, 2008, the band announced that they had begun work on a new studio album, tentatively titled In the Night. The album was released on January 25, 2010 in Europe and January 26, 2010 in North America.

On July 23, 2008, the band announced that their first live DVD/CD set, Gold Medal in Metal (Alive & Archive), was released on August 25, 2008.

On December 28, 2013 Dream Evil announced that Dannee Demon left the band and was replaced by Mark Black. Upon contact in 2015, Dream Evil informed that they were not on hiatus, just very busy with other commitments, and had eighteen tracks prepared for a future album.[3] On March 7, 2017, the album, titled Six, was finally announced to be released on May 26, 2017.[4]

Members

Current members Fredrik Nordström – rhythm guitar (1999–present) Niklas Isfeldt – vocals (1999–present (small hiatus in 2005)) Peter Stålfors – bass guitar (1999–present (small hiatus in 2005)) Markus Fristedt – lead guitar (2004–2007, 2013–present) Sir N – drums (2019-present)

Former members Snowy Shaw – drums (1999–2006) Gus G – lead guitar (1999–2004) Daniel Varghamne – lead guitar (2007-2013) Jake E. Berg – vocals (2005) Tommy Larsson – bass guitar (2005, died in 2020) Pat Power – drums (2006–2019)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		SWE [5]	JPN [6]	GRC [5]
Dragonslayer	Released: July 20, 2002 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, digital download[7]	—	—	—
Evilized	Released: July 27, 2003 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, digital download[8]	55	70	—
The Book of Heavy Metal	Released: July 13, 2004 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, digital download[9]	45	47	—
United	Released: October 13, 2006 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, digital download[10]	24	74	—
In the Night	Released: January 25, 2010 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, digital download[11]	53	116	19
Six	Released: May 26, 2017 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, digital download	—	—	—
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

EPs

Title	Details
Children of the Night	Released: October 3, 2003 Label: Century Media Formats: CD
The First Chapter	Released: April 26, 2004 Label: Century Media Formats: CD

Live

Title	Details
Gold Medal in Metal[12]	Released: August 25, 2008 Label: Century Media Formats: CD, DVD

References

1. "Dream Evil Guitarist Leaves". metalunderground.com. 13 September 2004. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
2. "DREAM EVIL Rejoined By Singer, Bassist". blabbermouth.net. 21 September 2005. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
3. "Status Update from Dream Evil". Reddit.com. Retrieved 2015-07-26.
4. "SWEDEN'S DREAM EVIL TO RELEASE SIX ALBUM IN MAY; VIDEO TRAILER STREAMING". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. March 7, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
5. "Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
6. "ドリーム・イーヴルのアルバム売上ランキング". ORICON STYLE.
7. "iTunes - Music - Dragonslayer by Dream Evil". iTunes.
8. "iTunes - Music - Evilized by Dream Evil". iTunes.
9. "iTunes - Music - The Book of Heavy Metal by Dream Evil". iTunes.
10. "iTunes - Music - United by Dream Evil". iTunes.
11. "iTunes - Music - In the Night by Dream Evil". iTunes.
12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-08-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• Dream Evil official website