The three men can be proud of what they have achieved on this debut.
Lead guitarist and vocalist Johnny Engstrom was born in Chicago but moved to Karlskoga in Sweden where the young boy that he was became fascinated by the burgeoning music scene that was growing in his new home town. He became a guitar pupil of ABBA guitarist Lasse Wallander, who inspired him to find and develop his own sound and guitar skills.
This lead to the formation of the Johnny Engstrom Band, and two albums in the hard rock vein were released. Engstrom, however, wanted to broaden his musical horizons and influences from the likes of Rush, Muse and The Police started to creep into the band's music. All this then lead to the formation of Dead End Space and subsequently to this, their debut album 'Distortion Of Senses'.
A conceptual piece, 'DOS' deals with the dark issues of the afterlife: ghosts, the unexpected and all the things that those subjects encompass. Merging elements of prog rock and metal with an at times melodic rock edge DOS have written an interesting though not wholly original prog metal album. Please don't get me wrong though because I have enjoyed the songs on this release a lot and tracks like 'Drama Fields', 'Hundred Years Of Dust', 'Breathe In Breathe Out', 'Obsessed' and 'Phantom Death' all have their moments. Each are well played written and arranged; it's just that they still need that little bit of something special that will make them stand out from other acts in this very crowded genre.
The three men can be proud of what they have achieved on this debut but a little more originality here and there would make for a much more exciting prospect. So, file under "a band to keep your eye on."
Ian Johnson
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