Dalriada are a busy band. Since 2004 they have released eight albums, all while maintaining a busy touring schedule. With the size of the catalogue they have created up to this point, it is understandable that they would have a retrospective period. In 2015 they did this by releasing Mesék, álmok, regék, their compilation album. This album is a part of this retrospective period, being a collection of acoustic versions of their songs plus a few covers. The selection of songs were clearly thought about, as they pull songs from all their previous albums, with no more than two songs coming from one album. Being an acoustic album based on folk metal, this album sees greatly expanded roles for the strings, with violins replacing many guitar parts as well as cellos at times replacing what would have been done by the bass guitar. Hej, virágom provides a great example of strings being used intelligently to replace their guitar counterparts, creating a vastly different song to the original that is still fun to listen to. The strings are also supplemented by woodwind instruments such as flue and pan pipes as shown in Bor vitéz and Ígéret. Hajdútánc features a very nice harpsichord part filling the arrangement out nicely. With that said, there are times when the heavier sound they are more known for is truly missed. Hazatérés, for example, just doesn't sound 'right', though they tried very hard to get a good arrangement for the musical parts. It just feels... less. A lot of this has to do with the absence of Tadeusz's excellent drumming. There are other songs, such as Úri toborzó, which don't have anything wrong with them, but I just prefer the original version. The whole album has a feel of the band just having a lot of fun. Vérző ima, for example, is played in an almost lounge jazz feel, which contrasts with both the folky sound of the album and the sound of the original song. The way the two singers alternate verses and sing the chorus together makes it the perfect song to do it with. I would argue that in this case the Forrás version is superior to the original, though a lot of that goes down to the fact that it came off their first album when they were still learning proper song structure. The vocal performance by both Laura and András holds up to their usual standard of excellence, with Ígéret being a standout in terms of strength and power, as the two vocalists lend energy that is somewhat lost with the transition to acoustic. The album overall feels somewhat rushed and cheap sounding. It isn't a bad sounding album by any means- it doesn't sound 'black metal album put out by an independent label' bad, but rather that there is polish that it lacks, most likely due to a greatly cut down mastering process. Ultimately folk metal is a niche even by the standards of metal, and smaller budgets are to be expected. The worst example is in A dudás, where the titular duda introduction muffed the high notes. I am unsure as to whether this was a mixup where they used the wrong take or they ran out of time, but this mars a good song. The two covers- Középeurópai Hobo Blues III and Bukott diákare very well played, especially the former (my favourite of the two), which features Laura pushing her voice to the limits, with great results. Gergely shines in both songs on piano as he does throughout the entire album. A greater weight is put on his piano skills this album and he truly stands up and did a great job. Having these two covers included was a great idea- it gives people (such as myself) who have heard the other songs featured on their albums something different to listen to, and it breaks the album up stylistically as they aren't folk based songs. Ultimately it's an enjoyable album to listen to. It was a good idea to come up with acoustic versions of their existing catalogue, but to be honest I really hope this is something they limit to one album. While I love experimentation and branching out, I'm nor sure f I would like them staying with this particular sound. Luckily all signs seem to point to this indeed being one off, with their next album (probably to be released this time next year or around about) being a return to the sound that they are known for. As a final thought, I'd really *love* for them to release a live CD/DVD set, similar to the one Silverchair released, Live From Faraway Stables. Being from Australia I doubt I'll ever see them live, so getting a live video is about as close as I'd get.