Dol Ammad is the brainchild of composer Thanasis Lightbridge. He formed the band in 2000 and among the members is drummer Alex Holzwarth from Rhapsody and Sieges Even. Well to be honest my guess is that Dol Ammad is more of a project than a real band. Thanasis is probably pulling all the strings as the composer of the albums. Add to this a 14 headed choir that exists of 7 men and 7 women and the total package is complete. In 2004 he enlightened us with his debut album Star Tales and this year his sophomore album is released on his own record label.

 

The attached biography talks about an aquatic space opera and to be honest I’d never witnessed such an opera. Well to be honest I’d never witnessed any opera and my guess is to keep it this way. So I’m really curious what this album will bring. Especially since the album starts very artistic with ´Thalassa Dominion 1´. Think of some female vocals giving some background sounds added with sounds of thunder, rain and a lot of electronic keyboard effects.

 

After this start its on with the rest of the ´Thalassa Dominion´ serie that ends with ´Thalassa Dominion 4´. During these songs we instantly get a good impression of Dol Ammad. This is a bombastic piece of art where Thanasis Lightbridge made good use of the vocal capacities present within the choir. Add to this a lot of keyboard effects and background sounds along with a double bass drum that last throughout the song. All put together with a slick production.

 

This immediately leads to my greatest problem with this album. The production is way too slick in my opinion. During the entire album I don’t have the feeling the musicians are having fun in what they’re doing. The raw emotion is completely gone on this album, which made it all sound too perfect. Especially with these kind of albums I do believe they have to enchant me with their music and the problem with Ocean Dynamics is that is doesn’t affect me during the entire album.