An album in two minds
Just what metal needs, another genre. Film soundtrack metal. A couple of years ago a prog/power band called Rhapsody (now Rhapsody of fire) made an album and declared they had invented this new genre, I assumed it wouldn't go any further.
Well it looks like I was wrong, along comes Dragonland to add to the movie score genre. With a band name like Dragonland you'd expect this album to smell of hobbits and chain mail, however it's off to outer space instead that this album leans and what a schizophrenic offering it is. So much so that I'll have write this review in two halves.
Curtain up, act 1
This album kicks off with a huge sounding mid tempo power metal track called 'Supernova' which after just one listen had me humming the chorus melody later, the production is massive with bludgeoning guitars mixed with orchestral keyboard stabs and this continues in to the second track 'Cassiopeia' with the added bonus of a female duet. I cannot find the name of this lady anywhere on their website or the press release but she does a great job complimenting singer Jonas perfectly.
I'm not going to go through the album track by track but instead say things speed up now with 'Contact' which you can get from their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/dragonland and this good quality power metal continues for the first half of the album, masterful guitar work is mixed with solid drumming to create very listenable power metal.
Exit stage left
Interval, ice creams are available in the foyer.
Act 2
What the.... Track 6 plays in and what I at first mistook for an intro to another song is in fact a four minute orchestral piece complete with French horns, violins, flutes and medieval hand drum thingys. It's kind of jolly in a Peter and the Wolf kind of way, then goes a bit James Bond before ending with a serious string arrangement that made me think of Gandalf surveying sweeping panorama's. I knew I'd get lord of the rings in here somewhere.
Then were back in power metal land albeit with a piano you could waltz to in the middle of 'Beethoven's nightmare' hmm, perhaps the clues in the title?
I have to mention 'Too late for sorrow' another duet but this time a song that makes my toes curl up, this wouldn't be out of place in an eighties movie like 'Dirty Dancing' it even has a change of key for the last chorus to make it sound even more sincere but makes it even more cheesy instead.
The grand finale
'The old house on the hill' parts 1, 2 and 3. An epic 14 minute fully orchestrated instrumental that fully deserves it's 'movie score' moniker, starting off like a new Harry Potter theme before being overlaid with bombastic metal guitars that soon melt away to string instruments. Moving through dark passages evocative of unknown fear to triumphant lifting refrains, calm sections shattering into maelstroms of metal. Make no mistake this is a massively talented piece of work, parts of which would not be out of place on classic fm. It has everything from harpsichords to violins to brass sections and really does suggest a feeling of missing whatever's going on 'on-screen' Did I mention choirs, harps and anything else they could get their hands on.
Exeunt
How on earth do I sum this up? On the one hand you have a good power metal album with massive chords threatening your woofers and tweeters, a wailing singer and tunes you can sing along to. On the other you have full blown classical pieces so complete that if these guys give up metal they can go into movie work.
If you like Rhapsody, Helloween, Symphony X and a large dollop of Classical music all mixed together then this might just be the album for you. However I think some people will not be able to reconcile the two halves of this musical dichotomy.