Dragonlord - Black Wings of Destiny
Escapi Music
Thrash-infused Symphonic Black Metal
10 songs (44:33)
Release year: 2005
Dragonlord, Escapi Music
Reviewed by Daniel

Four years ago a band formed by Testament (ex-)members tried their luck on the modern Black Metal field. The name of the band was Dragonlord and the result of their efforts was a killer album called Rapture; and hell, it was so good I still listen to it on quite a regular basis so I was really expecting more from them; and finally after four years they’ve decided to give us a bit more.

With Black Wings of Destiny, Dragonlord have maintained the exact same formula used in their previous effort, in fact this album could easily be Rapture volume two. The band makes obvious use of their musical heritage (the band features Testament and Nevermore members) throwing riff after riff of Thrash inspired attack as well as some tremolo picking, (almost mandatory in Black Metal), while epic keyboards adorn the songs with some stylish arrangements very reminiscent of Dimmu Borgir, in fact, if I had to describe Dragonlord with very few words I would say that it’s a thrashier version of their Norwegian peers.

The album starts with a nice intro which then launches us directly into The Curse of Woe, which embodies everything that Dragonlord is: melodic choruses, fast and aggressive guitars, tight rythm sections, engaging keyboards and lots of headbanging moments. It’s clear to me that they really have their formula well studied as they always stick to it, but even if all their songs follow very similar structures, it’s hard for them to get boring because they are quite notable at throwing powerful hooks and interesting synth interludes. Another thing that I find great about Dragonlord are the vocals, both growls and clean ones; when Eric Peterson is growling he’ll be absolutely vicious and violent, and when he is in fact singing he’ll do it with a great sense of harmony and melody.

The album is perfectly produced (recorded at Studio Fredman) as most modern Black Metal albums are, and I wouldn’t like it in any other way. The guitars sound as sharp as they could be, the drums pound fiercely always at the perfect level and the keyboards have enough room to shine through the album, and even if the music can feel quite saturated at times, nothing is obstructed, including vocals.

So what we have here is a worthy follow up, and in general a very good album; and even though I consider Rapture to be superior this album has some magnificent moments that top even some of the best of their previous effort. If bands like Anorexia Nervosa, Old Man’s Child or Dimmu Borgir are your thing, then don’t even think of letting this one slip through you. Also I think that people into modern Thrash would definitely like this and in general anyone slightly interested in extreme Metal should find the album worthy enough for a place in their collection.

Killing Songs :
The Curse of Woe and Until the End.
Daniel quoted 78 / 100
Other albums by Dragonlord that we have reviewed:
Dragonlord - Rapture reviewed by Danny and quoted 85 / 10
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