When you hear that you have been asked to review songs that were written to accompany a book you kind of think, this will be reflective music and very samey kind of music, but thankfully I was so surprised in the quality of these songs.
So the books are Jeremy Dwyer's 'Potion Voyages' series of eBooks that takes the reader on many adventures across a world of magic oceans. The enchanted waters each give a different elemental power - light, dark, spirit, time, stone, music and more. Yet, for those who would make use of the magic, only one ocean... Read More When you hear that you have been asked to review songs that were written to accompany a book you kind of think, this will be reflective music and very samey kind of music, but thankfully I was so surprised in the quality of these songs.
So the books are Jeremy Dwyer's 'Potion Voyages' series of eBooks that takes the reader on many adventures across a world of magic oceans. The enchanted waters each give a different elemental power - light, dark, spirit, time, stone, music and more. Yet, for those who would make use of the magic, only one ocean water can be chosen, binding for life.
There are currently nine eBooks in the series and every title includes Jeremy’s original song lyrics. Professional musicians were hired to compose melodies and provide vocals for the songs using the lyrics Jeremy wrote in his eBooks. So that's where I come in, reviewing these songs. It's not an easy review to write as the songs are based around a certain book, they in many ways don't really fit together as a collective, but individually they are strong solid songs, and what is even better is you can hear them on soudcloud for free.
Interestingly 'Wall of Fire' sounds like a mix of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Madonna -with what I can only describe as a great dance chorus. 'Crystal Clear' is a creative and arty track. 'Haunted Desert Sands' sounds like 'Sweet Dreams' by Eurythmics, I mean really sounds like it, but for me the strongest song I heard to go along with the books is the brilliant 'Restore This Dying Land', it’s creative, modern and engaging.
As a whole what I enjoyed a lot here was that each track felt different to the others, and also more musically modern and uplifting than I was expecting. Other standout moments for me have to be the gutsy 'Your Nights Belong To Me', which has some powerful vocals and for me the main pull of 'Your Warriors Are Far To Weak' is the strong bass line.
Sometimes the songs can be a bit lyrical, what I mean is that sometimes there are a lot of lyrics fitted into a melody because it’s trying to say so much, but the main reason for these songs is the actual 'Potion Voyages' books themselves. So it might be worth getting the books and then enjoying that first and then adding these tracks to them. That's clearly the purpose of the music and I think that’s where you will see the songs come to life that little bit more. Overall the quality of the recordings are fantastic and it’s nice to see someone trying something new and fresh.
