Second album for the band. Drakkar are a Italian band playing Epic Power Metal. Although I was not impressed with they previous album I had noticed it contained many interesting ideas. This album is a big step for the band in many ways. First the production : highly above usual Italian low level of production standard (keeping exception from the list of course : Rhapsody, Labyrinth, White Skull...). Italy is becoming a stronghold for emerging new talents we've already seen many of them like Secret Sphere, Shadows Of Steel and many others... Only problem is that we always argue about two things usually 1) sound and production and 2) singer's voice. Well Drakkar are no exception to the rule, but the voice is better than the other mentioned bands, although we can still hear the funny Italian accent on some songs (no offense). But Drakkar have something very unique, their songs sound like the name of the band would suggest : Northern sound... through their compositions you can feel some Vikings spirit and that's something highly appreciated and original if you ask me.

The album itself is nicely done and although I still think Drakkar need to improve a lot, they're certainly on the right track. There are no boring moments in this album except the intro and the instrumental track. Nowadays almost everyone puts an intro at the beginning of their records, so let's forget about the originality element cause it's no longer one. I don't mind having an intro track, but make it a good one at least or trash it cause otherwise I don't see the point. Anyway the album is far more interesting and holds more life and epic tales than the intro would suggest. Another point is drums ! Usually this part never troubles me much but on many songs here it does, very repetitive and without any edges, it can really be boring (even though the tracks are nice !) and something has to be done in that area as well. As for the orchestration they are nicely done for keyboard. In the end I'll restate that a big step into the right direction has been made by Drakkar and that it is really promising for the future, so keep up the good work !