Unlike most of Dreamtale's earlier albums, WCF is a concept album, and should also be regarded as such since this concept gives the record a whole new dimension. The album begins with a peaceful melody of the first track The Shore, which sounds almost like a lullaby. It's not an explosive way to start a power metal album, but certainly an apt "once upon a time in 2040" piece. That's right – the story of the album takes place in the future. Although the tracks tell the story from the beginning to the end, the CD booklet adds a lot of information to the mere lyrics – in fact even such essential details that without them the whole concept will not open up.
The second track, Island Of My Heart, leads the listener to genuine power metal and deeper understanding of the story. The song begins with an exciting intro and is topped off with a catchy chorus – a feature very peculiar to Dreamtale. It is followed by Tides Of War, the first single release and a song with an equally fine chorus and melodies which get stuck in your head. Both tracks are good examples of why the founder and main composer Rami Keränen should receive a lot of appreciation for his skills and creativity.
The story goes on with We Have No God, the song with ominous verses uttered in a lower tone, and The Signs Were True, which resembles a proclamation in its humble pomposity. The Heart After Dark was a bit tougher track to get a good hold of, but it turned out to be versatile, conveying a variety of emotions, as well as the lack thereof in an excellent way. Join The Rain is yet another great track which thrives from the very beginning to its strong chorus – however, such lines as "join the rain, my blackened angel" may sound slightly lame with a term that bears resemblance to a pre-teen goth's online nickname, and in this case only the additional text in the booklet justifies the use of such words.
Personally, I think ballads are a difficult form of art and too many such songs turn out unsuccessful, but Dreamtale has succeeded in that as well. The title track World Changed Forever is a very beautiful piece which also honours Erkki Seppänen's emotional vocals – moreover, it is also the only exception composed by him instead of Keränen. Dreamtime is not a ballad but a song swinging from one mood to another, growing from peacefulness to real power metal. Destiny's Chance, the last track, is a fine way to bring the story to its end, which is not exactly "and they lived happily ever after", yet its chorus has a glimmer of hope with the lead and backing vocals chanting "sing now my friends although this is the end".
As a whole, the album is again another strong proof of Dreamtale's talent and urge to create awesome power metal, such masterpieces as the aforementioned tracks as well as My Next Move, which contains an interlude slightly similar to that of Lady of A Thousand Lake's and is also a great track despite its slightly awkward ending. The tracks also contain some character dialogue of the story, performed not only by Seppänen and a guest star Heikki A. Kovalainen but also the band's keyboard genius Akseli Kaasalainen. And if one doesn't pay attention to the concept and the story, that dialogue may seem unnecessary and disconnected, yet those lines also have a lot to tell. The story is like a modern, alternative and particularly unscrupulous version of Pocahontas, even starring a cold-blooded self-seeker called John.
Not everything on the album opened up when listening to it for the first time through, but it is a solid, great Dreamtale release – lived up to the expectations one can set for the band and compared with their previous album, it is of the same high standard. Since Rami Keränen hasn't obviously run out of successful ideas for melodies yet, we can probably start looking forward to equally excellent future releases. But until that happens, World Changed Forever will certainly stand up to heavy listening.
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