I said I’d been listening to a lot of recent Uriah Heep lately, but I’ve also been listening to a lot of reasonable facsimiles of Uriah Heep, too. Specifically Blind Golem, a band out of Italy who takes the classic hard rock band’s influence to heart so much so that Ken Hensley is not only featured on the album, but prominently displayed on the fantasy driven album art, to boot. A Dream of Fantasy takes the driving guitars, heavy organ, and proto-metal prog thunder and gives it a bit of that modern European polish for an effective tribute that also manages to make a solid statement on its own.

The connection makes sense: Blind Golem arose from the ashes of bassist/vocalist/guitarist Francesco Dalla Riva’s tribute band Forever Heep. Having also played and supported Hensley on multiple occasions Riva and the rest of the likeminded members came together and started writing, finding more influences like Lucifer’s Friend (and Deep Purple, obviously) while crafting the 14 songs that make up A Dream of Fantasy. Having Hensley gives his informal blessing by guesting with some organ and guitar on track “The Day Is Gone” was just icing on the cake.

But how is A Dream of Fantasy take on its own merits? Perhaps unsurprisingly, it works for me. A flourish of organ and lead vocalist Andrea Vilardo’s stacked vocals open “Devil in a Dream” and while the guitar majesty of Mick Box isn’t there, Silvano Zago brings out some fun riffing and licks that work well in tandem with Simone Bistaffa’s organ work. Lots of harmonized vocals and a bouncy, restless bass line from Walter Mantovanelli bring the Demons & Wizards vibe forth without sounding too retro, and similar rockers like “Sunbreaker” and “Scarlett Eyes” show just a hint of commercial reach, with the latter in particular recalling Scorpions, no doubt in part to Vilardo’s vocal delivery.

More effective are the heavier, slower numbers that let Bistaffa’s keyboards really take the lead. “Screaming to the Stars” has a wicked doom cadence behind some swirling organ and a wha-laden guitar riff. And though he’s less successful on the acoustic “Carousel” Riva’s lead vocal work on penultimate track “Living and Dying” is great, and it’s the track that comes away in its heavier moments recalling the best of Heep to my ears.

Any quibbles are relatively minor: it’s a long album; I’d cut 3-4 tracks and lean the thing up a bit, and the final song “A Spell and a Charm” should have stayed an acoustic outro. Zago plays beautifully, but when it kicks into the vocal part the odd falsetto and winsome, sappy lyrics bring it down fast. That aside, A Dream of Fantasy is a solid debut and a good album to slot in the mix with the kind of hard, melodic rock Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and others have been perfecting over the past half century.