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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Dragonhammer - The Blood of the Dragon (MMXV Edition)


I’ve always have a love of Metal in the sounds of Progressive, Symphonic, Doom, and Power. As a geek, combining between the music of Symphonic, Prog, and Power along with the elements of Fantasy and Swords and Sorcery, it is a perfect match and the music as well. And one of the bands that I’ve always enjoyed is Italian Progressive Power Metal band, Dragonhammer. This year, they have reissued their debut album released 14 years ago called, The Blood of the Dragon along with their follow up, Time for Expiation. The first album sold 6,000 copies and it’s still one of the mind-blowing debut of a band who can take it into a higher level.

With their debut album, it is a new edition featuring a new digital treatment including a new artwork done by Antonio Pannuilo, and the music itself is still amazing to capture the essence and the beginning of Dragonhammer’s music as they were just beginning. The opening track, Legend, has these amazing touches between a sing-along anthem, power chords and riffs, and not to mention Alex Valdabrini’s mind-blowing keyboard solo thrown in to give it a perfect introduction to the start the album off with a bang.

It’s War begins with the effects of the battlefield with thunder, screams, laughter, and slaughter as it segues into Dragonhammer.  It has a beat per measure of 159 featuring some rapid guitar and drum beats done by Max Aguzzi and Milko Morelli. But it’s Aguzzi’s voice that not only just plays the guitar in rhythm and lead, he also sings as well. He sings in the styles of Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kurch as if he is paying tribute to him.

There is also an intense midsection that Max does to give it the scenario of what’s happening that is like a movie inside your mind to give that scenery of the battlefield between good and evil. The sing-along compositions always come in handy for the audience to follow with the band to give it their all and mighty and its evidential on the booming and angelic sounds on You Kill while they go into a mid-fast tempo on the rhythm section and the keyboards on Black Sword before both guitar and keyboard go at it a duel as if it’s a battle to see who will win.

But then, Dragonhammer go into the headbanging mode for the listener to really get into the mood for as the fight to the death begins as the war is starting for the music go into the action, drama, and the tempo as Aguzzi goes into his guitar styles of Iron Maiden, Brian May, and the duo guitars and Valdabrini. And the duel between them is spellbinding to see who will make it and win, but they are winners on Blood in the Sky.

The two bonus tracks is their live performances they did last year in Barcelona and in Rome in which they were on their European tour with Freedom Call and you can tell the audiences were in amazed and being in awe of what they have experienced as they performed Dragonhammer and Scream. Dragonhammer have really come along way and having a blast of listening to their debut album around six times now, I am still blown away of their music and its majestic, stunning, intense, and incredible at the same time. 

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