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Elvenpath guitarist Till Oberboßel has apparently decided his current band doesn't offer enough of an outlet for his creativity so now we get his new project, Lucid Dreaming. The debut album, The Chronicles Pt. 1 (strongly implying there is a Pt. 2 lurking in the wings) is fantasy-based Power Metal, not as symphonic as Rhapsody or Ancient Bards, due to a lack of keyboards, but it is as big and melodic as you could wish for. There are a number of guest vocalists, including Torsten Herbert from Dragonsfire, Ruth Knepel from Opalessence, Leo Stivalva from Forsaken and Jutta Weinhold, formerly of Zed Yago, among several others, so The Chronicles Pt. 1 sounds a lot like the early Avantasia records (again, minus the keyboards).

The production is sharp and clean, no less that is expected of the style or any Limb Music release. There are crunchy riffs, which are less crunchy than they could be, and sing-a-long choruses about swords and evil powers. Sadly, the songwriting is rather generic so, even though the songs sound good when they are on, they leave little lasting impression. Also, The Chronicles Pt. 1 is long, over and hour and 15 minutes, which, when combined with the less than exciting songwriting, makes for a somewhat tedious listening experience.

I give this one plenty of spins, hoping something would catch in my mind that would define what Lucid Dreaming was going for, but it never happened. Performances aside, there isn't much reason to rush out and grab The Chronicles Pt. 1, unless you need every fantasy-based Power Metal album ever released. If not, just grab an old Blind Guardian album.