Release Date July 27th, 2026
Format Digital, Limited Edition Vinyl (Pre Order)
Genre Heavy Metal
Origin USA
Element Of Fate is a two member melodic heavy metal band split between Washington, DC and Portland, Oregon, and “Dreamfall” is their debut full length. Madame Crol, known on paper as Carol Phillips, writes the lyrics and the vocal melodies and sings them. She is also a fantasy artist who created all of the artwork for the album and produced its music video in house through her studio, Inlumined Arts. Scott Loose writes the music and the arrangements, plays the guitars and bass, and programs the drums. The band stays independent, funded through Kickstarter, with a limited vinyl edition open for pre order until October 31.
“Dreamfall” is six tracks, and every one of them stays on the same road: fear, isolation, the shadow side of the self and the climb out of it into light. “Shadow Self” and “Fire Bird” give that away in the titles alone, and the lyrics go straight at the subject, even if the imagery of winds, trees and fire birds comes from an old fantasy toolbox. The songwriting is classic heavy metal at the core, riffs built on melody with gothic gloom and symphonic layers on top, and Madame Crol writes the vocal lines as the main event.
Her high, powerful voice leads in “Fire Bird” and the title track, and the hooks in each stay in the head after a single spin. “Night Winds” stretches past eight minutes, and uses the time for changes of pace and arrangement, which is where the progressive side becomes more than a label. The drum programming is where the album shows its independent budget. It keeps time like a grid, and the heavier stretches of “Shadow Self” and “Night Winds” call for a real drummer’s swing and get a metronome.
The mix and master by JBG Records holds the vocals and guitars up front and the symphonic layers behind them, which fits a project where the voice is the center, although the bass could use more body. The order of the tracks moves from the longer, heavier middle toward “Fire Bird”, which closes on the hope side of the story, and the album holds together as one coherent trip, with artwork by Madame Crol herself to go with the songs. It is a powerful debut from a band with a voice, a guitarist and a vision, and a human behind the kit would complete it.
|8.3
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