When I received this 4-track demo CD by Swiss band Daydreamer I was immediately curious, as I don’t know of too many hard rock bands that come from Switzerland. I can think of only veteran acts Krokus and Gotthard that hail from the land of the glorious Alps!

The disc opens with the song “Please Don’t Send Me Away” and within just a couple minutes, you can hear that the band draws from many influences. The track starts with an almost Metallica-like guitar riff but then builds slowly to a keyboard-infused rocker. “Brighter Days” has a slight Alice In Chains feel mixed with a more straight ahead 80’s hard rock approach. It’s an interesting song with some good guitar work from guitarist Peter Berger. The song “Slaves of Our Fantasy” seems to have been influenced by the Queensryche sound and trudges along at a slower pace. The final track “Race against the Wind” is probably the most cohesive and promising of this demo. Anyone who is a fan of the Dutch band Royal Hunt will find much to like about this song and it features some understated yet impressive guitar work from Berger.

As I said earlier, you can see this band is influenced by many sounds but this demo was a nice surprise and is worth checking out. According to their website, the band is currently working on a new full-length album and I look forward to see what direction the band goes in with the experience of this disc behind them. Remember the name Daydreamer and check out the website at www.daydreamer-band.ch for the latest on them.