Top notch black metal with a strong symphonic element.
Despite a name redolent of leather-trousered power metal cheese, Dragonlord do in fact play symphonic black metal, with all the blast beats, harsh vocals, and melodic flourishes you'd expect from the genre. And they do so rather well, in truth.
Following a nicely spine-tingling intro, 'Black Wings of Destiny' immediately grabs the listener's attention with the excellent 'The Curse of Woe'. While the high-speed, pounding intro works well, it's not until a third or so of the way through that things really get good. The keyboards, previously limited to some atmospheric synth parts, come in with a catchy riff, before it goes all slow and gothic: choirs, bells, and a great chugging guitar riff. And it's not just gothic metal that appears to have influenced Dragonlord: there are some keyboard/guitar duels reminiscent of Children of Bodom, while a strong thrash influence runs through the entirety of the album.
Throughout the album, the quality remains consistant, with every song showcasing another facet of the band's talent. 'Revelations' is a keyboard-centric number that nonetheless manages to sound heavier than a lead-coated elephant, though the symphonic element of Dragonlord's black metal is always present. Vocals are reasonably well performed, although Eric Peterson's occasionally shrill, Dani Filth-like shrieks might not be to everyone's tastes. Whether playing melodic and ear-pleasing music or the more traditionaly harsh black metal riffs, whether reminiscent of Iron Maiden or Dimmu Borgir, the guitars are always impressive, but rarely descend into self-indulgent widdling on the upper reaches of the fretboard.
Featuring members of bands like Testament and Nevermore, Dragonlord are certainly a band who should attract interest, and not just from fans of the former or latter. Their slickly produced gothic-tinged black metal (broadly in the vein of Cradle of Filth) might have the corpse paint brigade running back to their pine forests and dictaphones, but Dragonlord really do play this style of music well. Bar the mediocre vocal performance, there's not a single element of this album that I can really fault: it's the work of talented musicians who fortunately have the songwriting skill to back them up.
For those who like their black metal a bit more thought-provoking than blast beats and misanthropia, the symphonic splendours of Dragonlord's sophomore effort will most likely prove a pleasant surprise. The USA might not have a reputation for spawning top-notch black metal bands, but Dragonlord are a band of equal calibre to even Norway's finest. The varied influences, the technical mastery, and, above all, the quality of the songs, make this an essential purchase for any metal fan.