"A Landscape Made From Dreams" is home to 12 tracks from the brief tender acoustic and fretless bass opener "Welcome" which sets the scene nicely for "Devil's Dance" which is home to a great mid tempo rock fusion sound with a touch of prog for good measure. "Moment Of Clarity" reminds me of the masterpieces Satriani writes ala 'Crying' i.e. smooth passion filled with a melody to die for, this one is very lyrical indeed. "If Things Were Different" is a major chorded elegant display that brings to mind the lush textures you would hear on works by Eric Johnson - a favourite moment of mine. "Riddle Me This" sees a return to the more progressive sounds mainly thanks to its backing, on the guitar front Daniel keeps his lead work super melodic once again and it works incredibly well over the backing. "Carte Blanche" may be a little out of place after the previous offering with its thunderous rhythmic intro but the track swiftly takes on the Palmqvist sound with the lead lines. "After The Rain" sees the tempo slow for more emotional playing over an almost AOR ballad type backing. "Truffle Shuffle" begins with some dialogue from the film 'The Goonies', anyone who knows the film will immediately recall the hilarious 'truffle shuffle'. The track has an upbeat funky vibe with more lyrical lines from Daniel, the chorus progression is extremely well orchestrated once again. "Behind The Mirror" is home to a great keyboard solo from Johannes Stole (Pedestrians Of Blue, Orange Crush) with the track reminding me of the darker number Journey wrote around the 'Frontiers' era albeit without vocals. "Song For Pongo" shows that Palmqvist can rip it up over funky fusion grooves whilst "Words Of Wisdom" is another progressive track that comes across as a mix of Rush, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson (no bad thing!). Album closer "A Landscape Made From Dreams" is a very impressive score of music with a film score type quality, in fact its not a million miles away from the incredible work Daniel's rhythm section produced on Mind's Eye's 'Walking On H20", given the blend here I could easily see Daniel working incredibly well in that band. Clocking in at 6:34 the track travels through a number of areas all as strong as the next with identifiable melodies and movements and is a fine way to close the album.

Overall "A Landscape Made Of Dreams" is a quite remarkably instrumental offering and certainly the best I have heard in 2006 to date and I have found myself returning to it time and time again to get a load of those classy Palmqvist melodies. This album would be equally well suited to more general music fans that appreciate well played guitar that won't be stuffed down your thoat, just put it on and enjoy the experience.

Hot Spots : Devil's Dance, Moment Of Clarity, Riddle Me This, A Landscape Made From Dreams

Rating : 93%